If Alex Pretti Listened to His Parents, He’d Still Be Alive

Alex Pretti should be alive today. And he would still be alive had he listened to his parents.

Sure, the mainstream media is trying to paint Pretti as some kind, gentle soul, gunned down by federal agents without justification. They point out that he was an ICU nurse at a VA hospital, presenting him as a selfless healthcare worker. The reality tells a different story. He was part of an organized network aimed at disrupting immigration enforcement, and, as the videos of the shooting show, he violently resisted agents before being shot.

His parents warned him not to do “anything stupid,” and he did something — several things, really — stupid.

His father, Michael Pretti, told the Associated Press about that conversation. "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 said. "And he said he knows that. He knew that.”

Clearly, he didn’t know that, and he didn’t listen. Instead, Pretti, a member of a local ICE watch group, showed up at an active federal immigration enforcement operation targeting a violent criminal illegal immigrant while carrying a loaded 9mm semiautomatic handgun along with two additional loaded magazines. When Border Patrol agents were executing their lawful duties, Pretti inserted himself into the situation. Video from the scene shows agents attempting to disarm him as he violently resisted. That resistance cost him his life.

This wasn't Minneapolis's first rodeo with left-wing agitators disrupting immigration enforcement. Earlier in the month, Renee Good drove her car into an ICE agent, hitting him, forcing him to shoot her in self-defense. The mainstream media tried to paint her as an innocent bystander at the wrong place at the wrong time, but that story quickly fell apart when it emerged she was a trained anti-ICE activist intentionally obstructing law enforcement.

Pretti’s parents knew that their son was involved in the anti-ICE protests, but their advice fell on deaf ears, and history repeated itself.

As PJ Media previously reported, Pretti belonged to the Kingfield Signal ICE watch group, one of several neighborhood cells operating under a larger rapid-response system in Minneapolis. These groups don't simply observe or protest passively. Their purpose is to actively interfere with federal law enforcement operations.

I can still remember learning to drive as a teenager and hearing that if the police ever pull you over, put your hands on the wheel and don’t move them until instructed. Don’t attempt to pull out your license or registration until you’re asked to.

It’s simple advice, really. Traffic stops can be unpredictable and potentially dangerous. You don’t need to give the police any reason to misunderstand what you’re doing. If you’ve ever seen dashcam video of traffic stops that have turned deadly, you can easily understand why this is good advice. Yet left-wing agitators aren’t being told to respect law enforcement; their leaders are encouraging them to actively resist them. That’s a surefire way to get yourself killed.

If Alex Pretti had listened to his parents, he’d be around to protest another day. Instead, he listened to Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and got killed.

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