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By Andrew Stanton
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Kyle Rittenhouse rejected comparisons to Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old man who was fatally shot by a federal agent in Minneapolis over the weekend.
Newsweek reached out to a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat to whose post Rittenhouse responded, for comment via email.
Why It Matters
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) faces criticism over its tactics amid heightened operations in Minneapolis and the scrutiny intensified after a federal agent fatally shot Pretti, an ICU nurse, during a day of protests.
Read More on Politics
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says Pretti "approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun." However, videos verified by various news outlets show Pretti was holding a phone in his right hand, with nothing in his left hand, before he was shot, contradicting those claims.
Pretti was legally conceal-carrying a handgun at the time of his death. Records reflect no serious criminal history, according to authorities and public records cited by local media.
What To Know
Rittenhouse, in a post to X, rejected comparisons to Pretti, responding to Jeffries’ post comparing the two.
“Hakeem Jeffries is a gay communist. It was his supporters -- pedophiles and woman beaters -- who ATTACKED me in the streets of Kenosha. Now he wants to continue defending these degenerates and use my situation for rage bait and stoke the flames. NOPE,” Rittenhouse wrote.
In the Facebook post, Jeffries wrote, “Armed vigilante kills two civilians in Wisconsin and is called a hero by Trump and Far-Right extremists. Law-abiding VA nurse is killed by masked thugs in Minnesota and they label him a domestic terrorist. These are sick people.”
Rittenhouse gained notoriety in August 2020 when he fatally shot two men during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, said it was in self-defense and was acquitted of all charges in November 2021.
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Earlier in January, he addressed the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent, also in Minneapolis, during an interview for The Caitlin Sinclair Show.
“Agent [Jonathan] Ross, his identity has already been put out there publicly. He's been doxed. His family has been forced to go into hiding. Very similar to what happened to me—immediately being doxed. My home address being put out there, calls for death threats, bounties put out on him,” he said. “Similar to me, I’ve had bounties put out against me.”
The Trump administration’s response to the shooting has drawn criticism from gun rights organizations like the National Rifle Association (NRA), typically more supportive of Republicans. The agency, in a post to X, criticized a federal prosecutor for saying that there is a “high likelihood” an officer will be “legally justified” in shooting someone if they approach law enforcement with a gun.
“This sentiment from the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California is dangerous and wrong. Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens,” the NRA wrote.
Others have also drawn comparisons between Rittenhouse and Pretti.
“So Kyle Rittenhouse, who attended a protest armed with a loaded assault rifle and killed 2 people is a right-wing hero. But Alex Pretti who had a holstered, permitted handgun, was recording ICE, and tried to help a pepper-sprayed woman deserved to die? No one is buying this BS,” journalist Ahmed Baba wrote to X.
The Libertarian Party of Texas wrote to X, “Kyle Rittenhouse and Alex Pretti both had the legal right to carry. If you believe one had that right and the other didn’t, you don’t believe in rights—you believe in permission for people you agree with.”
What People Are Saying
The National Association for Gun Rights, on X: “Carrying an extra magazine implies nothing. Holsters designed to carry spare magazines are common and widely sold. Training resources and guides across the internet actively recommend it. Thousands of law-abiding Americans do this every day. This is standard, not overkill. Claiming otherwise sets a dangerous precedent for Second Amendment rights and creates an easy backdoor argument for magazine bans and similar legislation.”
Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, to Newsweek on Saturday: "This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, to X after the shooting: “I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening. The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”
What Happens Next
Both Democrats and Republicans have called for a thorough investigation into the deadly shooting of Pretti.
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