DHS official statement on the Pretti shooting
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, official departmental statement
“At 9:05 AM CT, as DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault, an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, seen here. The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted.”
Source and context
Analysis
About this source
FactCheck.org quotes DHS's official January 24, 2026 X post giving the department's account of the shooting, and compares it against independent video analyses that it says are at odds with that account.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
DHS posted its account of the shooting on X shortly after the incident, while describing the broader enforcement operation then underway in Minneapolis.
After the quotation
The department's statement predated the release and independent analysis of multiple bystander videos of the encounter that news organizations said showed a different sequence of events.
How this statement is classified
Case context: Were Border Patrol Agent Jesus Ochoa and CBP Officer Raymundo Gutierrez justified in fatally shooting Alex Pretti?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
DHS's statement defends the agents' decision to fire by asserting Pretti was armed, approached officers, and violently resisted disarming -- directly excusing the use of deadly force under scrutiny in this case.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Jesus Ochoa, Raymundo Gutierrez
Were Border Patrol Agent Jesus Ochoa and CBP Officer Raymundo Gutierrez justified in fatally shooting Alex Pretti?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full case“No. I don't. It should've not happened. It was a very sad -- to me it was a very sad incident, two incidents.”Read statement
“I'm not so interested in shift in tone. We just need them out of here, and we need accountability for what's happened.”Read statement
“How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?”Read statement