2 Federal Officers Involved in Pretti Shooting Are on Leave

UPDATE Jan 28, 2026 1:50 PM CST

The two federal officers who pulled their triggers in the Minneapolis shooting that killed Alex Pretti on Saturday are currently on paid administrative leave, NBC News reports. ABC News' sources describe this as standard operating procedure in the aftermath of an officer-involved shooting. The network quotes a Customs and Border Protection rep as saying their leave began Saturday; this runs counter to then-CBP commander-at-large Greg Bovino's Sunday claim that "all agents that were involved in that scene are working, not in Minneapolis, but in other locations." One officer involved was a CBP officer, while the other was a Border Patrol agent.

Jan 28, 2026 3:00 AM CST

Two federal officers fired shots during the encounter that killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti over the weekend in Minneapolis, a Customs and Border Protection official told Congress in a notice sent Tuesday, the AP reports. Officers tried to take Pretti into custody and he resisted, leading to a struggle, according to a notification to Congress obtained by the AP. During the struggle, a Border Patrol agent yelled, "He's got a gun!" multiple times, the official said. A Border Patrol officer and a CBP officer each fired Glock pistols, the notice said.

Investigators from CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility conducted the analysis based on a review of body-worn camera footage and agency documentation, the notice said. The law requires the agency to inform relevant congressional committees about deaths in CBP custody within 72 hours. The developments came a day after President Donald Trump ordered border czar Tom Homan to take over his administration's immigration crackdown in Minnesota in the wake of Pretti's death, which was the second fatal shooting this month of a person at the hands of immigration law enforcement.

The White House had tried to blame Democratic leaders for the protests of immigration raids. But after Pretti's killing and videos suggesting he was not an active threat, the administration tapped Homan to take charge of the Minnesota operation from Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino. Trump said Bovino, the go-to architect for the president's large-scale city-by-city immigration crackdowns, was "very good" but added "he's a pretty out-there kind of a guy" and "maybe it wasn't good here." Meanwhile, Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff who had initially called Pretti "an assassin," issued a statement suggesting CBP officers in Minneapolis "may not have been following" protocol. He said the Homeland Security Department's initial statements about what transpired on Saturday was "based on reports from CBP on the ground."