Minneapolis mayor challenges Donald Trump as he addresses president immediately after man is shot

The Minneapolis mayor has demanded that President Donald Trump ‘be a leader,’ just hours after a US citizen was shot dead by federal agents. 

Just after 9am Saturday morning, a Border Patrol agent fatally shot 37-year-old American citizen Alex Jeffrey Pretti near Glam Doll Donuts at 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue in a killing caught on camera.

The deadly incident marks the third shooting in recent weeks involving federal agents in Minneapolis, following the January 7 killing of a woman by an ICE officer and another shooting about a week later that left a man wounded. 

During a Saturday briefing, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the video he saw showed six federal agents ‘pummeling’ a man and then shooting him multiple times in the chest.

He then branded the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown an ‘invasion’ by masked agents acting with impunity, before singling out the president. 

‘Put Minneapolis, put America first,’ Frey said, urging the president to ‘take action now and remove these federal agents.’ 

‘How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?’ he added, emphasizing that the administration’s ongoing operations are ‘not creating safety in our city.’

‘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 many local and national leaders must plead with you, Donald Trump, to end this operation?’

The mayor said US citizens have seen such operations carried out around the world – but ‘never here in America,’ where a city is being invaded by its own federal government. 

‘I’m done being told that our community members are responsible for the vitriol in our streets. I’m done being told that our local elected officials are solely responsible for turning down the temperature,’ Frey declared.

Just yesterday, Frey noted, the city saw 15,000 people peacefully protesting in the streets and ‘standing up for their neighbors.’

‘Not a single broken window, not a single injury,’ the mayor said. ‘Those peaceful protests embody the very principles that both Minneapolis and America was founded upon.’

He shifted focus to the ‘mass militarized force’ of unidentified agents in the streets, arguing that such actions are what ‘weaken our country.’ 

Frey said that the administration’s crackdown is undermining public trust in law enforcement – and in democracy itself. 

‘So to everyone listening, stand with Minneapolis. Stand up for America. Recognize that your children will ask you what side you were on. Your grandchildren will ask you what you did to act to prevent this from happening again,’ the mayor said.

‘This is not what America is about,’ he added. ‘This is not a partisan issue. This is an American issue.’

‘This administration and everyone involved in this operation should be reflecting. They should be reflecting right now and asking themselves: What exactly are you accomplishing?’

Frey said that if the goal of Trump’s administration and the agents was to bring peace, calm and prosperity to the city and country, their actions are having the ‘complete opposite’ effect. 

‘To President Trump, this is a moment to act like a leader. Let’s achieve peace. Let’s end this operation and I’m telling you, our city will come back and safety will be restored,’ he said.

At a separate press conference, Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino said the officer who shot the man had been serving with the Border Patrol for the past eight years.  

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told the Daily Mail that Pretti was armed with two magazines, and that the gun was recovered by federal authorities. 

Circulating video showed agents wrestling Pretti to the ground before one federal agent fired multiple shots into his chest – after which the agents scattered.

He was pronounced dead the scene, officials said at Saturday’s press briefing. 

Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed at a news conference that the man shot was a 37-year-old white individual with no serious criminal history, aside from some parking tickets. 

Law enforcement sources also said Saturday that their records show Pretti had no serious criminal history. 

O’Hara said Pretti was a ‘lawful gun owner’ with a permit. Minnesota law allows permit holders to openly carry handguns in public without concealing them.

Records also showed that Pretti attended the University of Minnesota, and state records indicate he was issued a nursing license in 2021 that remains active through March 2026. 

DHS has since shared its account of the shooting on X, saying the deadly incident began as a ‘targeted operation against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault.’

‘An individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun,’ the department wrote. ‘The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted.’ 

‘Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene,’ the statement added.

‘The suspect also had 2 magazines and no ID – this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.’

DHS also wrote that ‘about 200 rioters arrived at the scene and began to obstruct and assault law enforcement,’ leading to the deployment of crowd-control measures. 

The city’s police department and officials with the Minnesota State Patrol were deployed to the scene and worked to keep hundreds of observers and protesters separated from the federal agents. 

Federal agents were seen firing tear gas and pepper balls just hours after the shooting.

As crowds continued to gather, the Minnesota State Patrol declared an ‘unlawful assembly,’ in the vicinity of the fatal shooting.

Protestors were seen blocking streets with dumpsters and restaurant furniture while shouting ‘ICE go home!’ at agents, as the area remained secured with police tape.

Residents and protesters remained on the scene, shouting at agents and calling them ‘Nazis,’ while insisting that all immigrants were welcome in the city. 

Chief O’Hara said during the press conference that two small fires were set, and that police and fire departments were working together to extinguish them. 

Several witnesses were transported to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building as ICE agents tried to order local police to leave the scene, but O’Hara refused. 

Multiple people were arrested, though it remains unclear exactly how many protesters were detained at the scene. 

Governor Tim Walz responded to the shooting on X with a blistering demand directed at President Trump.

‘I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening,’ Walz wrote.

‘The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota,’ he added. ‘Now.’

In another statement to X, Senator Amy Klobuchar wrote: ‘There has been another shooting involving federal agents in Minneapolis and I am working to get more information.’

‘To the Trump administration and the Republicans in Congress who have stood silent: Get ICE out of our state NOW,’ she added.

Senator Erin Murphy, the top Democrat in the state’s Senate, also issued a statement demanding an end to the federal operation.

‘ICE is a brutal invading force that acts without accountability or the most basic respect for human dignity or life,’ she said. ‘These agents of violence need to be brought to justice.’

Protests have picked up in Minneapolis in recent weeks as ICE continues to occupy the city following the death of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an agent on January 7.

The fatal shooting also comes just a week after an ICE agent, who DHS said feared for his life, fired a ‘defensive shot’ at illegal migrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis, striking him in the leg.