MINNEAPOLIS – In an unusual departure from its typically staunch support of law enforcement, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has joined a growing chorus of gun advocacy groups demanding a comprehensive federal investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a registered nurse, by a border agent during an immigration operation in Minneapolis last Saturday.
The incident has ignited fierce political controversy and public protests, with state and federal authorities presenting starkly contradictory narratives. While the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security maintains that Pretti was armed and posed an imminent threat to officers, no publicly available video evidence corroborates claims that he was holding a firearm during the confrontation.
The NRA’s intervention came specifically in response to comments from Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, who stated on social media that individuals approaching law enforcement with guns risk being “lawfully shot.” The gun lobby organization characterized this position as “dangerous and wrong,” emphasizing in an official statement that “responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”
This critical stance from the traditionally pro-Trump organization highlights the deepening political divisions surrounding the case. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has dismissed the administration’s account as “nonsense” and “lies,” while Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey compared the federal operation to an invasion and rejected ICE’s characterization of the shooting as self-defense.
The incident represents the second fatal shooting involving federal agents in Minneapolis this month amid intensified immigration enforcement operations. Multiple videos captured from bystander perspectives have emerged, though they fail to definitively resolve the conflicting accounts between state and federal authorities.
Gun Owners of America and Republican Congressman Thomas Massie have echoed the NRA’s concerns, with Massie asserting that “carrying a firearm is not a death sentence, it’s a constitutionally protected God-given right.” Essayli has since accused critics of taking his comments out of context, clarifying that he specifically referred to “agitators approaching law enforcement with a gun and refusing to disarm.”
As temperatures plummeted in Minneapolis, crowds gathered to protest the shooting, reflecting the heightened tensions surrounding immigration enforcement and gun rights that this incident has brought to the forefront of national discourse.