Noem press conference remarks on the Pretti shooting

Where this statement fits

Were Border Patrol Agent Jesus Ochoa and CBP Officer Raymundo Gutierrez justified in fatally shooting Alex Pretti?

On January 24, 2026, during Operation Metro Surge, a federal immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and CBP officer Raymundo Gutierrez fired approximately ten shots that killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. Pretti, who was lawfully carrying a handgun, had been filming federal agents and moved to help a woman whom an agent had pushed to the ground. Agents pepper-sprayed and pinned Pretti to the ground; bystander video reviewed by multiple news organizations shows an agent removing a handgun from Pretti's waistband roughly a second before the first shots were fired. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti approached officers with a 9mm handgun, that officers attempting to disarm him met violent resistance, and that agents fired defensive shots fearing for their lives. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Pretti's death a homicide on February 2, 2026. ProPublica identified the two agents on February 1, 2026; both were placed on administrative leave, and the Department of Justice opened a federal civil rights investigation. Discussing the shooting and the earlier fatal shooting of Renee Good in an NBC News interview, President Trump said "he was not an angel and she was not an angel," but when asked whether that justified what happened to them, he answered "No. I don't" and said "it should've not happened." The shooting sparked large protests in Minneapolis and other U.S. cities and preceded the administration's announced drawdown of Operation Metro Surge. As of September 2026, the federal civil rights investigation remains active with no public charging decision against either agent.