“It’s an unfortunate incident.” This is how the president of the United States described the shooting death of , while protesting against the immigration police in Minneapolis. That, after calling him a “gunman”, when criticism intensified and protests multiplied since his death on January 24.
The videos of the people who were around this 37-year-old nurse, who mediated to defend a woman besieged by it, made it clear that no, there was no provocation. He was armed, but the gun was taken from him well before the first shot hit him. The only thing he used was his mobile phone, to record everything.
Now, tonight, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner in Minneapolis, who is handling the case, has ruled his death a homicide. In a brief report released by his office, it is stated that Pretti died from multiple gunshot wounds at Hennepin Healthcare hospital and that his case is a homicide.
In addition, it is highlighted that the nurse, who died at the age of 37, was shot by security force agents, confirming what the entire world has seen and they refused to accept Trump and his cabinet, the one who defends that Pretti “was looking for a massacre” and his staff had to fire “defensive shots.” Several officers surrounded the man, restrained him and seized a gun before shooting him several times when he was on the ground, according to numerous videos of the event. That’s the truth.
Pretti’s was the second incident of this type in less than three weeks in Minneapolis, where on January 7, a woman, , died as a result of being shot by an ICE official. As in Pretti’s case, the medical examiner’s office ruled the death of Good, who was also 37, a homicide.
Of Latin origin
Last weekend, the middle announced that the agents who shot Pretti are Jesús Ochoa, from the Border Patrol (USBP), and Raymundo Gutiérrez, from the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP). Of Latin origin, now receiving orders to arrest people like them.
A twist that makes even more painful the episodes of police violence and the deportations that are being carried out, whose victims are people who in only 10% of cases have a criminal record, as journalistic investigations such as one from last October have revealed.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the agents responsible for the nurse’s death have been suspended from duty.
For its part, the Department of Justice reported on Friday that it has initiated an investigation into a possible violation of civil rights in this case, after a wave of intense protests in the city and the complaint of several legislators.
Pepper balls, tear gas, and stun grenades fired at hundreds of people who marched from Portland City Hall to the ICE facility on February 1, 2026.
personal cameras
Meanwhile, Kristi Noem, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, has announced that all Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents participating in immigration raids in Minneapolis will begin wearing body cameras immediately.
The measure reaches ICE teams and is explained as the most forceful response so far to the widespread outrage over the shooting death of these two American citizens at the hands of federal agents in that city, which has also set the entire country on fire.
In an announcement through the social network
“We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras for DHS law enforcement throughout the country,” he wrote, in a message that seeks to show a quick reaction to criticism of the agencies’ actions in the raids.
In this context, civil rights organizations, local leaders and federal legislators had been intensifying their calls for DHS to require all its immigration agents to wear body cameras, at least in arrest and control operations in vulnerable communities.
For these groups, the absence of audiovisual records favors impunity and makes it difficult to reconstruct what happened in deadly incidents such as those in Minneapolis.
In practice, the announcement means that ICE agents and other DHS divisions conducting raids in Minneapolis will now have to operate under constant registration. This could provide new evidence in cases of excessive use of force, disputed arrests or procedural violations.
Are there precedents?
Noem’s step forward is also understood in a political key, of course. Former Democratic President Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor, had already ordered in 2022 that all federal agents on security duties wear body cameras, as part of a broader executive order on police reforms, in response to cases of brutality that marked the beginning of his term.
But Republican President Trump rescinded that order shortly after beginning his second term in the White House, arguing that it imposed bureaucratic obstacles on law enforcement. Now, Noem herself links the turn to a gesture by Trump. The secretary reportedly moved forward with the program after the president publicly endorsed the idea of immigration agents wearing body cameras last weekend.
During a flight from Florida to Washington, asked by a reporter whether it was positive to have many cameras to record incidents with law enforcement, Trump responded: “I think it would help law enforcement, but I would have to talk to them.” That phrase opened the door for DHS to present the decision as aligned with the presidential will.
