Frey: 'How many more residents ... need to die'
Jacob FreyMayor of Minneapolis
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, speaking hours after the shooting, asked how many more people needed to die or be hurt before Operation Metro Surge ended.
“How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?”
Reporting
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
Reporting
About this source
Reports Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey's statement at a news conference hours after Pretti's shooting, questioning how many more people needed to be killed or hurt before Operation Metro Surge ended.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Frey made the statement at a news conference held hours after federal agents shot and killed Pretti in his city.
After the quotation
Frey also asked: "How many more lives need to be lost before this administration realizes that a political and partisan narrative is not as important as American values?"
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Frey frames Pretti's death as evidence the operation itself is causing preventable deaths and injuries, condemning the enforcement conduct that led to the shooting rather than excusing or minimizing it.
- 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 Jacob Frey
- Previous language
- Frey separately posted on social media that Minneapolis police would not enforce federal immigration law and that the department's focus was keeping residents safe.
- Corrected language
- Frey also asked: "How many more lives need to be lost before this administration realizes that a political and partisan narrative is not as important as American values?"
The context for this statement said Frey separately posted on social media that Minneapolis police would not enforce federal immigration law. The PBS News article we cited does not report that. We removed the sentence and replaced it with a second question from Frey that PBS News prints directly after the quoted one.
This corrects our account of what happened.
Reports Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey's statement at a news conference hours after Pretti's shooting, questioning how many more people needed to be killed or hurt before Operation Metro Surge ended.
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
Trump on Pretti and Good: 'It should've not happened'
“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.”Read statement
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- Frey: 'How many more residents ... need to die'
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The Dispute Index. "Frey: 'How many more residents ... need to die'". First published: 2026-09-24. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/2135-minneapolis-mayor-jacob-frey-speaking-hours-after-the