The Department of Justice shields the killers of Alex Pretti
By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit ·
Grieving parents demand answers nine months after federal agents killed their son in Minneapolis, exposing a cruel Department of Justice stonewall.
A grieving family begs for truth while the state builds a wall
Alex Pretti should be alive today. Instead, his parents, Michael and Susan Pretti, spent nine months begging for the basic decency of a phone call. The federal government killed their son. As reported by The Guardian and MinnPost, the Pretti family held a news conference in Minneapolis on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. They broke their silence on the cruelty they have endured since federal immigration agents shot Alex dead in the street.
Alex was an ICU nurse and veterans hospital worker with no criminal record. He possessed a legal license to carry the handgun he had holstered before agents removed it and opened fire. Video footage shows Alex held a cellphone in his hand. According to The Guardian and 5 Eyewitness News, he did not attack agents or brandish a weapon. Agents shot him in the back as he lay in the street. The family received letters from colleagues and a burial flag from a veteran. Yet the Trump administration went on television to smear a dedicated healer as an armed domestic terrorist. Former Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem called him a terrorist who attacked officers. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller referred to him as an assassin.
The machinery of impunity protects the agents who pull the trigger
The men who ended Alex’s life—identified by ProPublica as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez—walk free today. Not a single criminal charge has been filed against them. As reported by CNN and 5 Eyewitness News, the Department of Justice has actively fought to keep the truth buried under United States attorney general Todd Blanche.
Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison is currently leading a lawsuit against the Department of Justice to secure the remaining case file. He noted that prosecutors cannot go forward with half a file. Top federal prosecutor in Minnesota Dan Rosen met with the Prettis in July after months of pleading. Yet he declined to provide basic information, hiding behind the cowardly excuse that he cannot talk for all kinds of reasons. Meanwhile, as documented in the Federal Register, the Justice Department under Todd Blanche established a centralized firearms restoration program for prohibited gun owners under 18 U.S.C. 925(c). This lays bare a corrupt machinery that manufactures pathways to restore firearms rights while hiding behind bureaucratic walls to protect federal agents who slaughter citizens exercising those same legal rights. The Department of Justice told Reuters that communications with family members do not typically occur during an investigation. They dismiss the human tragedy of a murdered son as a mere administrative inconvenience.
A familiar Minneapolis nightmare built on state violence
This is the George Floyd protests all over again, where the state uses its monopoly on violence to kill a citizen in Minneapolis. Attorney Steve Schleicher noted his experience working in state and federal law enforcement. He has never seen a case conducted like this or a family treated with such cruelty and disrespect.
The parallels run deep into our collective trauma. The Department of Justice under Todd Blanche will continue to stonewall state prosecutors and the Pretti family. Hennepin County must rely on a federal court order to secure the remainder of the evidence file. Only then can any grand jury consideration proceed against Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and CBP officer Raymundo Gutierrez. Federal prosecutors will quietly close the criminal inquiry into agents Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez without filing federal charges. They will cite initial departmental narratives that framed Alex Pretti as an armed threat despite video evidence showing he was shot in the back. Michael and Susan Pretti, alongside their attorney Steve Schleicher, will file a comprehensive federal civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit. They will sue the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the individual agents, exposing internal agency communications through civil discovery.
No parent should have to live the nightmare the Prettis are living. They are forced to beg a rogue federal agency to return their son's personal property and name the employees who killed him. Justice requires that the Department of Justice immediately drop its courtroom fights. It must hand over the complete investigative file to state prosecutors. A grand jury must hold Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez fully accountable for murder under the rule of law.
Sources
- The Guardian: ‘Shameful’: Alex Pretti’s parents accuse Trump officials of shielding son’s killers
- CNN: Alex Pretti’s family says feds are still stonewalling efforts for justice
- MinnPost: Do you have a crush on me now, Danielle?
- FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul: Alex Pretti's parents speak out after shooting
- 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS: Alex Pretti’s parents call on DOJ to release findings 9 months after their son’s death