Greg Bovino Border Patrol chief defends fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, Minneapolis nurse who ‘interfered’ with federal agents and who shouldn’t have brought gun to protests while avoiding answering whether the 37-year-old man ever handled his legal carry and concealed weapon and threatened officers.
‘Are our collective eyes deceiving us….?’ Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino has taken to the media airwaves, steadfastly defending the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, who was shot dead by DHS federal agents in broad daylight on Saturday.
Bovino joined CNN‘s Dana Bash on Sunday, where he was questioned about ICU nurse Pretti’s death on the streets of Minneapolis – just weeks after motorist Renee Nicole Good was shot dead during a skirmish with ICE agents on January 7th.
alex pretti clear and slow motion video , end of debate. https://t.co/xlOLO3AJlt
— Gurpreet Garry Walia (@garrywalia_) January 25, 2026
Border Patrol chief avoids answering whether Minneapolis nurse pulled gun on agents
Captured video by witnesses on the scene showed Pretti, who was legally armed with a handgun, struggling with the Border Patrol officers before being shot on the ground, has sent shockwaves across America – with commentators on both sides of the political spectrum condemning the violence.
Bovino, when asked if Pretti, 37, ever pulled out his weapon to threaten law enforcement declined to answer definitively, instead blaming Pretti, for having stepped in and ‘interfered’ with agents, while insisting that his officers are actually the victims in the situation.
During the interview, video which appeared to contradict Trump officials claims that Pretti was the aggressor was shared, showing a fed agent at one point removing Pretti’s gun just moments before he was fired upon by another agent. Video did not appear to show Pretti handling a semi automatic weapon that was taken from the nurse as Pretti was subdued by more than six to eight agents onto the ground.
‘We do know that the suspect did bring a weapon, a loaded nine-millimeter high-capacity handgun, to a riot,’ Bovino said. ‘We do know that as far as what happened in that intervening moment, with the video that you just that you just showed, that’s going to come to light through the investigation that’s being investigated, and those facts and those questions will be answered soon enough.’
BREAKING: CNN calls out Greg Bovino, and ICE for lying to the American people, and all Bovino can do is stammer and stutter without giving any good answer.
He essentially acknowledges that there’s no evidence that Alex Pretti pulled a gun or assaulted officers in any way. pic.twitter.com/qWjZrT61mX
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) January 25, 2026
Alex Pretti family demand DHS stop lying about their son, ‘he was a hero!’
The Border Patrol leader remained steadfast in the defense of his officers, calling them the true victims of Saturday ordeal.
‘The victim, the victims are the Border Patrol agents,’ Bovino claimed, before adding that Pretti ‘put himself in that situation,’ and doubling down that ‘the victims are the Border Patrol agents there.’
The Border Patrol chief argued that Pretti was on the scene to ‘impede’ law enforcement, and that he should not have engaged with ‘an active law enforcement scene.’
Leading up to Pretti being subdued by a phalanx of agents, the ICU nurse had stepped in between a woman being pepper sprayed by a federal agent, in a bid to defuse the situation.
Bash pushed back on Bovino’s claims, asking for evidence that Pretti was involved in any action not protected by his First or Second Amendment rights.
‘Did he assault the Federal officer in any of the videos that you had seen,’ Bash asked Bovino, before adding that ‘it looked to us from every angle, sir, that he was approached by them when he was helping another individual who was pushed down.’
‘What evidence do you have that he was assaulting any law enforcement?’ Bash further asked the chief.
Alex Jeffrey Pretti new video angle raises troubling questions
Bovino doubled down on the claim that Pretti’s ‘help’ was not needed on the scene, then deflected to offer his take on the broader law enforcement situation in Minneapolis.
‘What our officers are faced with here in Minneapolis are chaotic, very difficult and violent situations,’ Bovino stated, before once again criticizing Pretti for ‘bringing a loaded weapon to a riot.’
Bovino eventually argued that Pretti’s Second Amendment rights were voided by presenting as a threat to law enforcement officers.
‘We respect that Second Amendment right, but those rights don’t count when you riot and assault, delay, obstruct, and impede law enforcement officers and, most especially, when you mean to do that beforehand,’ Bovino said.
Bovino also said that he himself had attended a protest armed and that he supports individuals’ ability to do the same.
‘I’ve done that myself and fully support that, but not when you perpetrate violence, obstruct, delay, or obfuscate border patrol in the performance of their duties,’ Bovino noted.
At a Saturday news conference, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the deceased had no serious criminal history and a record that showed only some parking tickets.
Law enforcement sources said their records show Pretti had no serious criminal history.
The Department of Homeland Security 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.’
The episode has further divided an already fractured America, while many decried the ‘tragic’ violence, commentators were split whether Pretti had brought the chaos to himself and had failed to exercise caution and inject himself in a volatile situation. Others meanwhile have decried what they claim is the egregious use of state violence in a bid to quell demonstrators seeking to exercise their right to protest and criticize their own government.
