Priest who worked with Alex Pretti: ‘Don’t pay any attention to the vilification from our national leaders’

MINNEAPOLIS (Gray News/AP) — A Catholic priest who worked with Alex Pretti, the man shot and killed by ICE agents in Minnesota, is urging people to remember Pretti as a good man.

While speaking to the congregation at the Basilica of St. Mary, Fr. Harry Tasto took a moment to speak about Pretti, WCCO reports.

“The archbishop has requested that we remember him [Pretti] and his family tonight in our worship here,” Tasto said.

Tasto said he worked alongside Pretti for 10 years as a chaplain at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, where Pretti was an ICU nurse.

“He was known for his kindness and gentleness to patients,” Tasto said. “So don’t, please, pay any attention to the vilification from our national leaders.”

Tasto is just one of many people who knew Pretti and are disputing the narrative from top Trump administration officials that he was a violent “domestic terrorist” and would-be assassin.

This undated photo provided by Michael Pretti shows Alex J. Pretti, the man who was shot by a federal officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (Michael Pretti via AP)(AP)

Pretti, 37, was remembered as kind and warm-hearted by his family, neighbors and the loved ones of the ailing veterans he treated at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center.

A video posted to social media showed Pretti reading a final salute at the foot of the flag-draped body of Terrance Lee Randolph, an Air Force vet who died at the hospital in 2024.

“Today we remember that freedom is not free,” Pretti, wearing navy blue scrubs, says in the video. “We have to work for it, nurture it, protect it, and even sacrifice for it.”

Randolph’s son, Mac Randolph, remembered Pretti tending to his father in his final days and said he found the words “very on point” in the wake of Saturday’s deadly shooting.

“He was extremely knowledgeable and caring,” Mac Randolph said. “He was able to answer any questions we had and would really hear out our concerns. He treated my father and our family with the utmost dignity and respect. He was truly one of the best of us.”

Family members say Pretti was deeply empathic of those he saw as being mistreated and was upset by President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in his city. He had participated in protests following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs officer.

Pretti was also an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed getting in adventures with Joule, his beloved Catahoula Leopard dog who recently died.

“He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” Michael Pretti told The Associated Press on Saturday shortly after his son’s death. “He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street. He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests.”

Pretti was a U.S. citizen, born in Illinois. He grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he played football, baseball and ran track for Preble High School. He was a Boy Scout and sang in the Green Bay Boy Choir.

After graduation, he went to the University of Minnesota, graduating in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, society and the environment, according to the family. He worked as a research scientist before returning to school to become a registered nurse.

Court records show he had no criminal record, and his family said he had never had any interactions with law enforcement beyond a handful of traffic tickets.

In a recent conversation with their son, his parents, who live in Colorado, told him to be careful when protesting.

“We had this discussion with him two weeks ago or so, you know, that go ahead and protest, but do not engage, do not do anything stupid, basically,” Michael Pretti said. “And he said he knows that. He knew that.”

The Department of Homeland Security said the man was shot after he “approached” Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun. Officials did not specify if Pretti brandished the gun. In bystander videos of the shooting that emerged soon after, Pretti is seen with a phone in his hand but none appears to show him with a visible weapon.

Family members said Pretti owned a handgun and had a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Minnesota. They said they had never known him to carry it.

“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” the family said. They added that videos showed Alex Pretti was not holding a gun when he was tackled by federal agents, but holding his phone with one hand and using the other to shield a woman who was being pepper-sprayed.

“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man,” they said.

Trump has put the blame on Democrats for causing both Good and Pretti’s deaths.

“Meanwhile, Democrat run Sanctuary Cities and States are REFUSING to cooperate with ICE, and they are actually encouraging Leftwing Agitators to unlawfully obstruct their operations to arrest the Worst of the Worst People!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social. “By doing this, Democrats are putting Illegal Alien Criminals over Taxpaying, Law-Abiding Citizens, and they have created dangerous circumstances for EVERYONE involved. Tragically, two American Citizens have lost their lives as a result of this Democrat ensued chaos.”