Medical Examiner Officially Determines Alex Pretti’s Death Was a Homicide

Adam Gray/AP photo

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office has officially determined Alex Pretti’s death to be a homicide, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported on Monday.

Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who worked for the VA, was fatally shot on Jan. 24 in Minneapolis during ongoing protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Shortly afterwards, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem called Pretti a “domestic terrorist;” other Trump administration officials also made comments accusing him of “brandishing” his weapon and intending to “kill” or “massacre” federal agents, among other unfounded claims.

Video evidence taken by several bystanders, reviewed in frame-by-frame detail by multiple media outlets, contradicted these claims. During the incident, Pretti was only holding his cell phone, he had a permit to carry his gun, and he never took the gun out. An agent found the gun in its holster while Pretti was being held down by multiple agents, and removed the gun before another agent began firing at Pretti’s back.

Pretti’s shooting, coming just days after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, sparked nationwide protests and growing calls for the agents who shot him to be criminally investigated. On Sunday, ProPublica reported that government records revealed that the two federal agents who shot Pretti were Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.

According to the report by the Star Tribune, the county medical examiner released a public data form on its website Monday that categorized Pretti’s manner of death as a “homicide” that was caused by “multiple gunshot wounds.”

No other details from Pretti’s autopsy were included in the one-page report.

As the Star Tribune noted, “[h]omicide is defined as a death that occurs at the hands of another person” — as opposed to death by natural causes or suicide, for example — “and does not necessarily mean the person died from a criminal act.”

The same county medical examiner’s office had also previously determined that Good’s death was a homicide as well. She was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on Jan. 7.

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