Multiple agents with the Department of Homeland Security are reportedly “furious” with the agency’s handling of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti. For context, Pretti was shot dead by federal officers in Minneapolis on Saturday, January 24, 2026.
According to a statement shared by the DHS on their official X handle, at around 9 a.m. local time, as “law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault,” Pretti allegedly approached the “US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.”
At 9:05 AM CT, as DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault, an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, seen here.
The officers attempted to… pic.twitter.com/5Y50mYONGH
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 24, 2026
Per the statement, Pretti, an ICU nurse, “violently resisted,” as “officers attempted to disarm” him, which prompted “an agent fired defensive shots,” who was fearing “for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers.”
Although immediate medical attention was provided to Pretti, he was pronounced dead at the scene, per the DHS. “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,” they added.
However, according to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, multiple DHS agents allegedly told her that they are “furious” with how the federal government and Secretary Kristi Noem have handled the shooting, especially, “as videos contradict the account that is coming from the federal government tonight.”
Multiple DHS officials are furious over the department’s handling of the shooting of Alex Pretti, @priscialva reports tonight. pic.twitter.com/LP20twzoXh
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 26, 2026
Collins added that some of the criticism has also been fueled by “a swift defence of the federal officers involved.”
Furthermore, her colleague, CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, added that as the DHS agents have had more time to absorb the videos that have been circulating on social media, “they have grown more frustrated and more concerned, not only about the shooting incident, but also the public response by the Department of Homeland Security.”
”These are officials who are keenly aware that they risk even more reputational harm, which affects them in their operations and could also have long-term consequences that they are going to have to wrestle with in the years to come,” she added.
”In my conversations, they simply can’t square, just as many other people who have observed this can’t, what happened in that shooting incident and what the Department of Homeland Security secretary has been saying. As you mentioned, Kaitlan, she swiftly defended the agent yesterday and this morning did much of the same,” Alvarez added.
The CNN reporters further had a look at Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s statement on Saturday, where she claimed that Alex “brandished” a firearm to officers.
”This individual went and impeded their law enforcement operations, attacked those officers, had a weapon on him and multiple dozens of rounds of ammunition, wishing to inflict harm on these officers, coming, brandishing like that,” said Noem.
However, according to Alvarez, social media videos of the shooting contradict her claims. “And in the videos that have been made public, none of that appears to be true. And that is what homeland security officials are wrestling with, and their concern is that ultimately, the secretary is doing a disservice to the department,” she added.
According to social media footages verified by The New York Times, Pretti had a phone, not a gun, in his hand before being shot by Border Patrol officers, contradicting the DHS claims.
The reporter further cited one homeland security official, who said, “The department needs a law enforcement leader, not a sycophant,” referring to Noem.
