Chaos spread around the White House like wildfire in the tense hours after Border Patrol agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse on a Minneapolis street. Since then, there had been a frantic scramble to spin the narrative, but video evidence undercut initial claims. The Saturday (24 January 2026) incident plunged Trump’s administration into its fiercest interagency blame game yet.
On the ‘dooms’ day, Pretti was filming agents around 9 am (CT) when the situation between him and the federal agents escalated. He was first pepper-sprayed, then tackled by several armed agents to the ground before being shot 10 times in the back. The first shot fired was heard seconds after he was pinned to the ground. Even after he lay there motionless, several rounds of shots were fired at him within 5 seconds. His 9mm licensed pistol was retrieved, but video footage verified by CNN, The New York Times, and The Guardian showed no violent resistance from his side, contradicting initial reports.
Trump posted an image of Pretti’s licensed Sig Sauer P320 with the caption stating Pretti as “gunman,” apparently whose gun was “loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go – What is that all about?”
Alex’s parents slammed the portrayal of their dead son as “reprehensible and disgusting.”
Trump, fresh from Switzerland’s Greenland deal, monitored TV from the Oval and dining room amid snowstorm preparations. By 10 am ET, aide Dan Bovino texted top officials; DHS Secretary Kristi Noem briefed Trump by 11 am. Tim Walz demanded pulling “thousands of violent, untrained officers,” but Chief of Staff Susie Wiles mediated productively.
At 11 am, DHS drafted a statement that Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,” violently resisted, and forced “defensive shots.” Deputy Chief Stephen Miller and Noem called him a “domestic terrorist” and “would-be-assasin.”
As contradicting video footage spread, Wiles saw that “it wasn’t playing well,” dispatching border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota on Monday. Later, Trump told reporters that he believed Pretti’s intention was not that of assassination and also added that “you can’t have guns” in a situation like his.
He clarified that Noem will hold her position even after Democrats, later joined by Republicans, demanded her immediate dismissal. Most notably, Trump also said, “We’re going to de-escalate a little bit.”
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