Trump on Pretti and Good: 'It should've not happened'
Donald TrumpPresident of the United States
Asked whether Pretti's and Renee Good's own conduct justified their deaths, President Trump said no and that the shootings should not have happened, after saying earlier in the interview that "he was not an angel and she was not an angel."
“No. I don't. I -- it should've not happened. It was a very sad -- to me it was a very sad incident, two incidents.”
Interview
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.
Source and context
Interview
About this source
Full NBC News transcript of Tom Llamas's Oval Office interview with President Trump, in which Llamas asks whether Good's and Pretti's conduct justified what happened to them and Trump answers on the record.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
NBC News anchor Tom Llamas asked Trump directly, after Trump had described Pretti and Good as not being angels, whether their conduct justified what happened to them.
After the quotation
Trump added that he thought both incidents were sad and said ICE personnel felt worse about the incidents than anyone else, while continuing to support the administration's immigration enforcement operations.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Trump directly answers 'no' when asked whether the shootings were justified and says they should not have happened, which is not a defense of the agents' conduct. But earlier in the same interview he says of Pretti and Good that 'he was not an angel and she was not an angel' and continues to back the underlying enforcement operation. The statement mixes acknowledgment that the outcome was wrong with conditional language about the victims' own conduct, rather than offering a clean condemnation of the agents' use of force.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Jesus Ochoa, Raymundo Gutierrez
Corrections to this statement
These notices document reporting corrections, classification changes, and topic-label updates.
Reporting correction
Correction to: Statement by Donald Trump
- Previous language
- President Trump said the shooting, along with the earlier fatal shooting of Renee Good, 'should not have happened' while maintaining Pretti and Good 'were not angels.'
- Corrected language
- 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."
An earlier version of this case summary, its timeline entry and President Trump's statement entry put paraphrases of his NBC News remarks in quotation marks, including "were not angels" and "should not have happened." We replaced them with his words as NBC News' transcript records them: "he was not an angel and she was not an angel" and "it should've not happened." The change does not alter the substance of what we reported.
This corrects our account of what happened.
Full NBC News transcript of Tom Llamas's Oval Office interview with President Trump, in which Llamas asks whether Good's and Pretti's conduct justified what happened to them and Trump answers on the record.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)More from this case
Read the full caseSteven Young calls Alex Pretti's killing a murder and blames Klobuchar's support for ICE
“Klobuchar's continued support for ICE renders her complicit in the ethnic cleansing of our neighbors here, and an accomplice after the fact to the murder of Alex and Renee.”Read statement
Amy Klobuchar says Alex Pretti should still be alive
“They should be alive today.”Read statement
Walz calls for federal agents to leave and for accountability
“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
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- The Dispute Index
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- Trump on Pretti and Good: 'It should've not happened'
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- https://disputeindex.com/events/2133-asked-whether-pretti-s-and-renee-good-s
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "Trump on Pretti and Good: 'It should've not happened'". First published: 2026-09-24. Last updated: 2026-09-25. https://disputeindex.com/events/2133-asked-whether-pretti-s-and-renee-good-s