Arlington, VA—Arlington citizens came out in a skin-biting cold at 8 pm on Saturday night to heed a call by Minnesotan organizers to place candles out for another victim slain at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents early on Saturday, January 24. They lit many candles and laid them at the base of a mural created last week to remember ICE victims which was erected on the side of a building on Columbia Pike. The candles blew in the wind but remained lit despite the cold.
They held a moment of silence and then stood while several said prayers for the victims. They discussed the extreme ICE violence they saw in videos over the past four weeks, and the most recent video of yet another killing of Alex Pretti. They tried to make some sense of a tumultuous day. A member of the Arlington Council also joined them for a while. To them it seemed to be like a turning point of whether or not cooler heads will prevail or civil unrest would erupt across Minneapolis and possibly across America.
Alex Pretti, a nurse who worked at the Minneapolis Department of Veterans Affairs in its ICU, was observing ICE agents during one of their actions which they were in the process of detaining several people. As he moved towards several people who had just been pepper sprayed, agents immediately tackled or knocked him to the ground, kicked and punched him while he was underneath six of them, then one of agents shot him 10 times in rapid succession at point-blank range. The agent then ran from the scene while other agents backed away from Pretti’s motionless body, providing the mortally wounded man no aid.
From the moment ICE agents first encountered Pretti, who was observing them and not involved in the action himself, to the moment ICE tackled and killed him, Pretti virtually had no chance of survival. The video shows he was clearly not engaged in any behavior or instigation to counter ICE activities and he was not engaging in any provocative behavior.
An analysis of a compilation of multiple videos shows one agent approaching Pretti, forcing him to walk backwards, and pushing him up against a wall. In his right hand is a small camera, not a gun. His left hand is raised as if to surrender. A short clip taken from a passing motorist is shaky, but shows Pretti already on the ground being beaten by up to five agents. One agent pulls a firearm from his trouser waist.
Yet a third video taken from inside a store window depicts a group of up to eight agents piling onto Pretti. There is one gunshot and then a rapid succession of ten more shots fired from an agent. Agents recoil as the shots ring out, leaving Pretti lying on the ground.
A fourth video taken from farther away but on the street shows a wider angle of all the agents while they are assaulting Pretti and when he is killed. Pretti never pulls a weapon and the video confirms this.
The open source videos sparked immediate reaction from many sectors of the country. The minority members of Congress, which had been considering a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, announced it would categorically decline to proceed in any further negotiations with the majority, unless ICE actions were suspended. This effectively threatens the Continuing Resolution (CR) currently in effect and raises the possibility of another government shutdown next Friday, January 30, when the CR expires.
The combined videos taken by a Minneapolis motorist, from the store, and by other bystanders in the street who happened to be present while ICE was macing a woman, depicted the harrowing sequence. The video evidence completely disproved Department of Homeland Security claims that Pretti was intentionally attempting to ambush or disrupt ICE agents’ activities. There is no evidence of Pretti either drawing a weapon he purportedly had on his person or interacting with agents. It was reported that he had a license to carry a firearm. However, a license to carry firearms is a Second Amendment right and not a justification for any law enforcement to kill a citizen.
The sequence lasted about 20 seconds, too short a time for there to be any reasonable attempt by agents to warn Pretti to leave or to afford him his legally established rights which law enforcement officers typically follow during enforcement actions. The video also demonstrates that the framework in which ICE agents are now operating is completely outside any established lawful procedure.
The incident angered Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz who posted this statement on Bluesky: “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.”demanded the White House immediately remove ICE from the city. He later activated the Minnesota Army National Guard.
We will update this story as it is continuing and developments are occurring by the hour.
This story was clarified to reflect more details of the shooting.
Sunday, January 25, 2026 Update
More video continues to circulate of Saturday’s federal agency shooting of Minneapolis citizen Alex Pretti. It shows that Pretti was not an aggressor. It further damns DHS claims Pretti was brandishing a weapon which DHS claimed on Saturday after agents assaulted and shot him as he was on the ground.
A gofundme had already amassed $475,000.00 by Sunday morning for Pretti’s memorial, over 20 times the initial request of $20,000.00. Donations continued to go to the charity.
The donation link is here.
On Saturday afternoon a Trump appointed Federal Judge granted an immediate Temporary Restraining Order that all evidence gathered at the scene of the shooting be preserved. The TRO had immediate effect.
