Minneapolis, Minnesota , 27 January (H.S.): The White House on Monday articulated that President Donald Trump harbors no desire for violence on American streets following the fatal shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on Saturday, January 24, 2026, at approximately 9:05 a.m. CST.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized, Nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed in America's streets, while describing the incident as a profound tragedy and extending condolences to Pretti's parents, noting her own perspective as a mother.

This shooting unfolded amid escalating protests against a Trump-ordered surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis, marking the second such fatality in the city within weeks; the first involved Renée Nicole Good, another 37-year-old U.S. citizen, killed by an ICE agent on January 7, 2026, when shots were fired into her vehicle during an enforcement operation.

Video footage verified by multiple outlets depicts Pretti initially recording the agents with his phone near the intersection of 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue before being tackled, pepper-sprayed, and shot multiple times—up to ten rounds in five seconds—while pinned to the ground, contradicting initial federal claims that he brandished a 9mm handgun and posed an imminent threat.

Leavitt swiftly pivoted to apportion blame on Democratic leaders, including Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey, accusing them of deliberate and hostile resistance that precipitated the unrest, while decrying their alleged dissemination of falsehoods about federal officers endeavoring to deport criminal illegal aliens.

Senior administration figures, such as Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, had promptly labeled Pretti a domestic terrorist and would-be assassin, assertions now under scrutiny as body-camera videos and witness accounts reveal agents disarming him of a legally carried firearm prior to the gunfire.

The episode has intensified calls from state officials for federal agents' withdrawal and prompted Trump to express concern over the operation's viability, amid a broader pattern of ICE-related deaths in protest hotspots.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar