ICE agents outside a home in Circle Pines, Minnesota on January 28, 2026 PHOTO: SCOTT OLSON / Getty images / Profimedia
At least two federal border patrol agents involved in Saturday's deadly shooting that killed US citizen Alex Pretti in Minneapolis have been suspended, US media reported on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the two ICE agents who fired their weapons during the fatal confrontation with Alex Pretti have been suspended as part of standard procedures, Fox News reported.
MS NOW (cable TV station My Source for News, Opinion, and the World) previously reported that the agents involved in Pretti's shooting have been suspended, citing an anonymous source.
“This is standard protocol,” a CBP spokesman told AFP.
According to The New York Times (NYT), it is about the two police officers who opened fire on Alex Pretti ten times on Saturday, while several officers tried to immobilize him on the ground.
Pretti died at the scene from his injuries.
US Customs and Border Protection said it was investigating the incident.
The killing of Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse who worked at a veterans hospital, inflamed tensions over the Donald Trump administration's crackdown on immigration in Democratic-led cities and sparked an outcry after federal officials said Pretti's actions caused his killing, despite video footage that appeared to prove otherwise.
According to media reports citing the document that suspended the two federal agents, the report did not mention that Pretti tried to draw his weapon, although the US administration had previously suggested he posed an immediate threat.
After the armed incident, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released photos of a gun it says Pretti was carrying and said he approached Border Protection agents while armed.
DHS also alleges that the man resisted efforts to disarm him and that one of the agents fired in self-defense, although video footage shows that Pretti had already been disarmed by that point.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said shortly after the incident that Pretti appeared to be determined to cause as much harm as possible and kill agents, and that he had a gun in sight, a claim not supported by available footage.
The NYT notes that investigators viewed footage from body cameras on the agents to compile the report.
