Alex Pretti's parents to hold first press conference since his killing by Border Patrol agents

Local News Alex Pretti's parents to hold first press conference since his killing by Border Patrol agents By WCCO Staff October 27, 2026 / 8:47 AM CDT / CBS Minnesota Add CBS News on Google The parents of Alex Pretti, who Border Patrol officers shot and killed in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge, are set to speak publicly on Tuesday morning. Michael and Susan Pretti will hold their first press conference nine months after his killing and are expected to speak on the federal investigation. In July, through their attorney Steven Schleicher, the parents called the investigation an "absolute nightmare" and said they still had no information about who killed their son. In a separate statement, Susan Pretti marked six months since his killing, saying in part, "six months of pain, a rollercoaster of trauma over and over."The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. CBS News Minnesota will cover and you can watch in the live player above.  Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old former ICU nurse, was the second person to be fatally shot by federal agents in a matter of weeks during the immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Cell phone footage from bystanders captured Alex Pretti confronting a federal officer who had pushed a woman into a snowbank. The officer then uses a chemical irritant on him. Multiple federal officers surround him and take him to the ground; while he's on the ground, an agent wearing grey appears to take something from his waist. In another video obtained by CBS News, that officer can clearly be seen removing the gun from Alex Pretti's waistband. The agent is holding that gun and turning away when the first shot is fired just one second later.  It's after that happens that the first shot is fired, followed by at least 10 more audible shots.It is not clear from the videos how many officers fired shots. But a report to Congress obtained by CBS News on Jan. 27 says two U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents fired their weapons during the deadly incident.Then Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem faces heavy scrutiny over their reaction to Alex Pretti's killing. Hours after the shooting, Noem alleged Pretti "approached" Border Patrol agents with a gun and "violently resisted" after officers tried to disarm him, and Bovino accused him of trying to "massacre law enforcement." But videos of the incident do not show Pretti brandishing a gun, and one video appears to show an officer removing a gun from Pretti's waistband just moments before another agent fired the first shot. Noem later stepped down from her role. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry. Multiple videos filmed before the shooting show Pretti did not have a gun in his hands.Federal investigators initially refused to share evidence with Minnesota state investigators in the three federal immigration officer shootings, prompting state and county officials to sue the federal government. In July, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced that evidence sharing had begun, but officials said it stopped shortly after that announcement. In the Pretti case, Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said the state has not received the firearms used by the officers who shot him, a firearm that was taken from Pretti before he was shot, the officers' cellphones, projectiles and casings, or a recording of a statement from one of those officers.Renee Good, 37, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in her car in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, just weeks before Pretti's killing. Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan national, was shot in the leg by a federal immigration agent Jan. 14. Federal prosecutors charged him with assaulting the agent, then dropped the case in February. The agent, Christian Castro, is accused of lying about the shooting and faces both state and federal charges.  In: Alex Pretti Minneapolis Featured Local Savings