The death of a person at the hands of ICE in the middle of the street and in broad daylight has once again shocked the United States. Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, was killed by Border Patrol agents during an operation last Saturday, January 24, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Although Pretti was carrying a legally registered weapon, verified videos of the event show him recording officers with his phone and then attempting to help a woman who was being pushed, when he was wrestled to the ground, pepper-sprayed, and ultimately shot multiple times while restrained. The recordings do not show that he was holding a gun in his hands in the moments before the shooting.
Pretti’s death occurred just twenty days after the execution by federal immigration agents of Renee Good, also 37, in Minneapolis, an event that had already generated massive protests in the city.
Several public figures have harshly condemned Pretti’s death. Billie Eilish has criticized the silence of some celebrities in the face of ICE violence on social networks, asking: “My famous colleagues, are you not going to say anything or what?”
Eilish’s brother, Finneas, has been especially harsh on TikTok, questioning whether those who defend the use of legal weapons in the United States justify Pretti’s death because he was carrying a legal weapon. «You have been saying for thirty years that in the United States some children must die so that we can legally carry weapons. “This guy was carrying a legal weapon and you killed him,” he said.
Another celebrity, Olivia Rodrigo, has denounced the shooting on her networks, describing ICE as a “murderous federal agency” and calling the agency’s actions “unconscionable,” stressing that “our actions matter, I support Minnesota.”
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis has posted artwork paying tribute to both Pretti and Renee Good, writing: “THEY WERE AMERICANS! SHOT BY OUR GOVERNMENT!” Likewise, the actor Pedro Pascal has questioned the official government story and has shared a post by Zohran Mamdami, mayor of New York, where he calls for the abolition of ICE.
Actor Mark Ruffalo has also pointed out in Bluesky that the “pretti fatal shooting showed cold-blooded murder on the streets of the United States by an occupying military gang,” adding that “we have fought wars in other countries for less than this.”
