A protester sits on the street with his arms up in front of federal agents in Minneapolis, on Jan. 24, 2026. Credit - Alex Kormann—Star Tribune/AP
Minutes after federal agents killed37-year-old Alex Prettiin Minneapolis on Saturday morning, the second fatal shooting by immigration authorities in the city in as many weeks, dozens of protesters arrived at the scene.
A tense stand-off ensued with immigration agents who had cordoned off the intersection. Demonstrators called the agents "Nazis" and told them to "go home." The agents responded by mocking the protesters.
Just a day earlier, tens of thousands of Minnesotans had filled the same city's streets in a mass protest against the Trump Administration's immigration crackdown in the state and the killing of Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother of three, by an immigration officer less than two miles away from Saturday's shooting.
Read more:Federal Agents Kill Another Person in Minneapolis Immigration Crackdown
Organizers estimated that 50,000 people attended the "Ice Out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom" demonstration, organized by community leaders, clergy members, and labor unions.
Those demonstrations passed peacefully, but on Saturday, protesters clashed with federal agents for hours as the city convulsed with anger over the killing of Pretti. Federal agents fired tear gas, flash bang grenades and pepper balls.
By the afternoon, protests had taken over the intersection where the shooting had taken place and turned it into a makeshift memorial to Pretti.
Pretti was a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse who worked at the Veterans Affairs in Minneapolis. His family said he was motivated to join protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis after the killing of Renne Good on Jan. 7.
He was killed after being pepper-sprayed and tackled to the ground by Border Patrol agents on Saturday morning. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Pretti was armed and "violently resisted," but video of the incident shared by bystanders later contradicted that claim.
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