It’s safe to say that the vast majority of Americans were horrified by videos and news of the shooting death of Alex Pretti at the hands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officers. Watching another human die is a harrowing thing. People were either mad that law enforcement killed Pretti, or they were outraged that he was there tussling with officers in the first place. But the misinformation about Pretti has been just as horrifying, fueling anger and furthering the divide between previously reasonable Americans.

If you’re on social media, you know that your friends and neighbors are incensed, even if what they’re posting is completely untrue. It’s hard to blame people, given what’s circulating. Still, there are clues to the fakery.

Unfortunately, some misinformation came straight from the Trump administration, with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem calling Pretti a “domestic terrorist,” alleging that he intended to “massacre law enforcement” and the like. President Donald Trump made some personnel changes after that, but even he said of protests, “You can’t walk in with guns.” Actually, yes, you can. What you cannot do is get into physical altercations with law enforcement, gun or not.

The administration has walked some of that back, though the impulse to counter the left-wing narrative is certainly understandable.

Speaking of The Narrative™, MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace fretted, “Donald Trump and his cabinet, his administration, are demanding once again that you not believe your eyes and ears.” While she spoke those words, the network displayed an AI-altered and enhanced photo of Pretti. His facial shape, teeth, and skin tone were changed to make him look friendlier and more masculine.

There were other, far worse alterations. Democrat Senator Dick Durbin stood on the Senate floor and showed a blown-up AI-generated image of Pretti on his knees being executed with a shot to the back of the head. How would any rational person immediately conclude this was an AI stillshot? The agent kneeling in the foreground has no head. Durbin’s own video of his speech is still posted on his X page, and that same image has widely circulated on social media for the obvious reason of shock value.

Generally, leftists have spoken about Pretti (and Renee Good before him) as upstanding citizens, when in fact they were both part of anti-ICE agitator groups. They were trained on how to impede deportation operations because discrediting ICE with video confrontations is their strategy.

Perhaps Pretti really was a nice guy at times, serving as a Department of Veterans Affairs ICU nurse. “This is like the perfect guy,” cooed CNN senior political commentator Ana Navarro. “Alex Pretti’s the guy you would want to date your daughter, the guy you’d want your son to grow up to be. … There is nothing that has been said about that man that isn’t wonderful. And so, they can’t malign him … because we have the videos.”

Funny she should mention videos.

A couple of new videos hit the internet yesterday showing a hothead Pretti curse at and spit on a federal agent and then repeatedly kick (and smash) the taillight of a federal vehicle on a public street. He was armed with a holstered handgun at that time, too. His own family confirmed it was him.

Another video of that same incident shows him vulgarly challenging federal officers to “assault me.”

“AssauIt me, motherfcker!!!” - Alex Pretti on January 13th trying to get injured by federal officers pic.twitter.com/33PBDIiJxN

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 29, 2026

Oh.

As I said, Pretti was a trained agitator. He was expressing his inner juvenile delinquent in the service of protecting — at the time of his shooting — Jose Huerta-Chuma, an Ecuadorian illegal immigrant with a violent record, from arrest and deportation. In fact, Pretti broke a rib when he got tackled by an ICE officer in an altercation before his death. He wasn’t new to the area. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that ICE and Border Patrol agents already knew who he was before either violent encounter.

Does any of that mean Pretti should have been shot 10 times?

No. But the only person who 100% could have saved the life of Alex Pretti was Alex Pretti.

He shouldn’t have been there on either day he was videoed scuffling with federal agents. He shouldn’t have carried a firearm — without remembering to bring his permit, which made his carrying unlawful in Minnesota — when he intended to agitate against federal agents. He shouldn’t have gotten physically involved with federal agents or resisted arrest when they tried to subdue him.

If Pretti had done any of those differently, the 37-year-old “perfect guy” ICU nurse would still be alive.

I realize that it’s an emotional thing to see a human being get shot and killed, especially for women, who greatly surpass men in their empathy for the downtrodden. It’s emotional to think that a five-year-old boy was detained for no reason, though that story was also largely misreported. It’s alarming to see masked agents roaming the streets and to (falsely) think they’re killing random bystanders.

But I also think podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey is exactly right: “Women, we have the ability to use discernment and think clearly. We do not have to use emotion to make important policy decisions. Don’t be swept up by this campaign targeting us. Use your mind, ask smart questions, and stand strong.”

Alex Pretti was not the “perfect guy.” He wasn’t even the good guy.

One last point: Why was Pretti there? Because he hates ICE. Why was ICE there? Because Trump is attempting to clean up the very deliberate crisis created by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and now leftist Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey. Biden and Harris may be gone, but their open border policy is still claiming American lives. Nothing ICE agents have done even remotely compares to the violence and death against entirely innocent people like another nurse named Laken Riley.

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