On Saturday, I wrote that Minneapolis would not explode. The federal agents would pull back. The state would keep the peace. There would be no accountability, only a negotiated pause. Operation Metro Surge would be dialed back.
I was right.
One of the small details no one wrote about? A BP agent gleefully clapped his hands immediately after Pretti was killed.
CAPTION: Agent claps during shooting
Alex Pretti was already dead, at least 10 bullets in his body. His gun had been removed seconds earlier by another agent who walked away with it. Pretti was pinned face-down on the pavement when the shooting started, and motionless when it ended.
Then an agent claps with glee as his coworkers were emptying magazines into Pretti.
Not horror. Not shock. Not the trembling that follows taking a life. Satisfaction.
Forty-eight hours later, President Trump and Governor Tim Walz had a "very productive" phone call. Both sides claimed victory. A deal was being cut.
This is how the politics works in this country.
What Happened
Saturday morning, January 24, 2026. Nicollet Avenue and 26th Street, Minneapolis.
Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, stood on the sidewalk filming with his phone. His other hand was visible, empty. He was not threatening anyone. He was documenting.
A federal agent pepper-sprayed him in the face. You do not pepper spray an active shooter. You shoot them. The pepper spray tells you what the agents actually perceived: not a lethal threat.
Six agents tackled Pretti from behind. Eight seconds passed before anyone yelled "gun." They did not know he was armed when they took him down.
CAPTION: Two angles show agent removing gun before shooting
An agent in a grey jacket reached into the pile of bodies, removed a handgun, stood up, and walked away. At this point, one of the agents yells "Gun gun gun!" (Something mainstream news did not report, but it’s important and why they started shooting, even though he was disarmed.)
Then, with Pretti pinned, disarmed, and immobilized, another agent aimed at his back and fired. A third agent joined. At least ten shots in five seconds into a man who no longer had a weapon.[1]
CAPTION: Initial shooting: at least 11 shots while on ground
The New York Times Visual Investigations team verified the footage.[2] DHS claimed Pretti "approached Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun" and "violently resisted" disarmament.[3]
The video shows a man holding a phone.
After the shooting, once Pretti's body was removed, agents scoured the immediate area and could not find the gun. The agent who had it called out, "I have it!"
The fact that the agent in grey jacket did not tell others he disarmed Pretti, and the general chaotic nature of the shooting, plus not being able to collect evidence concretely proves these men did not do their job, complete negligence, poor operational control, and wholly inadequate to their duty.
Who Was Alex Pretti
CAPTION: Alex Jeffrey Pretti
The administration needs Pretti to be a terrorist. Commander Greg Bovino of Homeland Security Investigations said he "wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement."[4]
The evidence suggests he was a nurse.
Pretti worked in the Intensive Care Unit at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System. He was an Air Force veteran himself. In December, weeks before his death, he organized an honorary walk for a dying veteran, lining the hospital hallways as the man was escorted out for the last time.[5]
He had no criminal record beyond parking tickets.[6] He was a lawful gun owner with a valid Minnesota permit to carry.[7] His family said they had never seen him brandish the weapon. They did not know he was carrying it that day.[8]
The Pattern
Pretti is the third person shot by federal agents in Minneapolis this month.
| Date | Victim | DHS Claim | Reality |
|------|--------|-----------|---------|
| Jan 7 | Renee Good | "Weaponized vehicle," "domestic terrorist" | Car moving away from agent |
| Jan 14 | Julio Sosa-Celis | "Attacked with weapons" | Snow shovel; wrong target |
| Jan 24 | Alex Pretti | "Approached with gun" | Phone in hand; disarmed before shot |
Three shootings in seventeen days. Two dead. Same playbook: DHS releases a statement criminalizing the victim before any investigation. Video contradicts the official account. Agents face no consequences.
This is "Operation Metro Surge," the DHS deployment of 3,000 federal agents to the Twin Cities. Stated objective: arrest "the worst of the worst." Reality: an $18 million per week occupation that has killed an ICU nurse and a woman driving away from agents.[9]
The Off-Ramp
CAPTION: Mass protests resume in Minneapolis after the shooting
For 48 hours, Minneapolis looked like it might break.
Fifty thousand protesters filled the streets the day before Pretti was killed.[10] After his death, crowds surged again. Governor Walz called the federal account "lies" and "nonsense."[11] Mayor Frey requested the National Guard.[12] The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension obtained a search warrant signed by a state judge. Federal agents blocked them from the crime scene.[13]
State versus federal. The constitutional crisis everyone predicted.
Then came the phone call.
Sunday afternoon, Trump and Walz spoke directly. The White House said it was "very good" and that Walz "wants to work together."[14] Walz's office said Trump agreed to "look into reducing federal agents."[15] Conservative media declared "Walz Folds."[16]
Translation: both sides claiming victory means a deal is being cut.
Monday morning, Trump announced he was sending Tom Homan, his border czar, to Minneapolis. "Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me."[17] Trump is quickly centralizing operations. He simply cannot afford to have another citizen gunned down, no matter the circumstances. If Renee Good didn't become a martyr, Pretti had the potential to be not just that, but the spark of George Floyd-level rioting.
So this is the off-ramp that I predicted.
Homan's deployment is face-saving ("I'm sending my guy") while actually centralizing control. No more loose-cannon field agents creating PR disasters. No more commanders like Bovino personally throwing CN gas grenades at protesters, which he did on Sunday.[18] The operation continues, but quieter. The bodies stop piling up. The news cycle moves on.
The public is increasingly anti-ICE: a recent poll shows up to 63% of Americans do not support the ICE and BP raids. While Democrats and the left want complete cessation of deportations, Republicans and MAGA want to double down and hit back harder on protesters and "agitators." The off-ramp marks a shift in rhetoric from the Trump administration and potentially a dialing down of confrontations.
The agents deployed under Operation Metro Surge are immigration enforcement, not crowd control. They are trained to process detainees, not manage mass protests. None of them, not FBI, not HSI, not ICE ERO, have riot training. Only Border Patrol's BORTAC unit does. This mismatch explains why a senior commander ended up personally throwing tear gas into a crowd.
The National Guard has this training. Mayor Frey and Walz activated them. But the Guard is not engaging, only providing a presence. The trained force watches while the untrained force creates casualties.
Alex Pretti’s Killers Will Not Stand Trial. Ever.
Here is what will not happen:
The agents who killed Alex Pretti will not be charged with murder. They will not be charged with manslaughter. They will not be charged with anything.
Federal agents operate under the Supremacy Clause and the 1890 Supreme Court case In re Neagle.[19] If an agent is authorized by federal law to perform an act and reasonably believes the action is necessary, state law does not apply. DHS has already blocked state investigators from the scene. There will be no state prosecution.
There will be a DOJ investigation. It will take months. It will conclude that the agents acted within policy. The policy will not change.
Michael Byrd shot Ashli Babbitt and received a $36,000 bonus. Jonathan Ross shot Renee Good and remains on active duty. The agents who killed Alex Pretti will receive counseling, back pay, and the full protection of the federal government.
The Clap
Alex Pretti's father, Michael, spoke to reporters after learning of his son's death. Alex had called his parents two weeks earlier. They urged him to be careful at the protests. He promised he would not do anything reckless.[20]
He kept that promise. He stood on a sidewalk with a phone. He was pepper sprayed, tackled, disarmed, and executed.
Then an agent clapped.
And then the president made a phone call, and a deal was cut, and Tom Homan got on a plane. The protesters will go home. The operation will continue. The agents will never be named.
That clap was not an aberration. It was the system expressing itself honestly, for one brief moment, before the machinery of impunity kicked in and made it all disappear.
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Video Notes
Notes
[1] "Videos Show Moments in Which Agents Killed a Man in Minneapolis." New York Times, January 24, 2026. NYT analysis counts "at least 10 shots" fired "within five seconds" while Pretti was "effectively immobilized."
[2] Ibid.
[3] "DHS alleges shooting victim was killed in self defense in press conference." Minnesota Daily, January 24, 2026.
[4] "Man shot dead by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis." WUSF, January 24, 2026.
[5] "Alex Pretti identified as man fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis." Star Tribune, January 24, 2026.
[6] "DHS names man shot by feds in Minneapolis, but their shared background of him lists only minor prior incidents." CBS Minnesota, January 24, 2026.
[7] "Federal agents fatally shoot another Minneapolis resident; BCA says feds deny access to shooting scene." CBS Minnesota, January 24, 2026.
[8] "Alex Pretti's parents break silence after Minneapolis shooting." Hindustan Times, January 24, 2026.
[9] "Study shows Operation Metro Surge costs taxpayers $18 million a week." KARE 11, January 2026.
[10] Middle East Spectator Telegram, January 24, 2026. "50,000 anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis, yesterday."
[11] "Minneapolis shooting: Tim Walz condemns 'federal occupation' as victim identified as Alex Pretti." The Guardian, January 24, 2026.
[12] Ibid.
[13] "Federal agents fatally shoot another Minneapolis resident; BCA says feds deny access to shooting scene." CBS Minnesota, January 24, 2026.
[14] "Trump deploys border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota as ICE operations face violent chaos." Fox News, January 26, 2026.
[15] "Minneapolis ICE shooting live updates." CNN, January 26, 2026.
[16] "Walz Folds: Agrees with Trump on ICE in Minneapolis." WABC Radio, January 26, 2026.
[17] "Trump sends border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis." Disclose.tv, January 26, 2026.
[18] IntelSlava Telegram, January 26, 2026. "Gregory Bovino, throws a CN gas grenade at protesters during mass riots in Minneapolis."
[19] "Why federal officers don't have absolute immunity." Protect Democracy, 2026. Analysis of In re Neagle and its limits.
[20] "Alex Pretti's parents break silence after Minneapolis shooting." Hindustan Times, January 24, 2026.
