Alex Pretti, Second Protester Killed in Minneapolis, Has Colorado Ties, Too

The second person killed in Minneapolis by federal agents during the Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdown also has Colorado ties.

The parents of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at a Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital, moved to Arvada eight years ago. According to the Associated Press, Michael and Susan Pretti had told their son to be careful after he’d joined in protests following the killing of Renee Good, the 37-year-old Colorado native who was killed by an ICE officer on January 7 in Minneapolis.

“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 told the AP. “And he said he knows that. He knew that.”

While Colorado has seen protests since Good’s killing, the demonstrations in Minneapolis have been growing. According to the AP, Pretti’s parents learned their son had been shot at a protest on Saturday, January 24, when they were contacted by a reporter.

“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 AP. “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.”

Alex Pretti was born in Illinois; he went to high school in Wisconsin and college at the University of Minnesota. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Pretti was a Minneapolis resident and U.S. citizen with only traffic violations on his criminal record.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Pretti was shot after he “approached” Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun. But witnesses say he was holding a phone, and their statements are backed by videos showing that Pretti actually backed away after he was approached by officers.

Family members said that Pretti had a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Minnesota, but had never known him to carry it.

“Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs,” Michael and Susan Pretti said in a statement given to CNN. “He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper-sprayed.”

Thousands of people have gathered in the sub-zero Minneapolis night at a memorial for Pretti.