Update: Priest who worked with Alex Pretti says he was known for ‘kindness’

A Roman Catholic priest who worked with Alex Pretti, the man shot and killed by federal agents in Minnesota, said he was known for his “kindness” and urged people not to “pay any attention to the vilification from our national leaders.”

Pretti, an ICU nurse, was shot during federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis on Jan. 24.

The incident marked the second shooting death by federal agents in the city. Renee Good was shot and killed on Jan. 7 by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.

Father Harry Tasto, who worked with Pretti for 10 years when he worked as a chaplain at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis, spoke about the nurse’s life during a Sunday evening Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary broadcasted by WCCO.

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

“He was known for his kindness and gentleness to patients,” Tasto said.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said it forwarded EWTN News’ request for comment to Tasto, who did not reply to the request for comment.

Within hours of the shooting, Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, posted on social media that Pretti was “an assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.” Vice President JD Vance reposted Miller’s assessment and blamed the incident on “engineered chaos” caused by “far-left agitators.”

In a post to X, Miller also called Pretti a “domestic terrorist.” Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino said during a press conference that Pretti was attempting to “massacre law enforcement.”

As investigations continue, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “the administration is reviewing everything in respect to the shooting.”

Following his original statement, Miller responded to the situation again in a statement shared with EWTN News by the White House Press Office on Jan. 29.

“The initial statement from DHS was based on reports from CBP on the ground,” he said, referencing U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “Additionally, the White House provided clear guidance to DHS that the extra personnel that had been sent to Minnesota for force protection should be used for conducting fugitive operations to create a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disruptors. We are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol.”

A video circulating online shows Pretti interacting with law enforcement 11 days before his death.

The Jan. 13 footage released by outlets including The Associated Press appears to show Pretti on a Minneapolis street. When federal agents get into a vehicle and begin to drive away, Pretti kicks the car and breaks a back tail light. An officer then gets out of the car and tackles Pretti to the ground. Pretti gets up and walks away from the officers.

“A week before Alex was gunned down in the street — despite posing no threat to anyone — he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents,” Steve Schleicher, attorney for the Pretti family, said in a statement. “Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan. 24.”

Schleicher is a Minneapolis-based attorney who also served as a prosecutor in the George Floyd case.

“Steve has been retained to protect the family’s interests in the aftermath of this horrific tragedy,” according to an unnamed family spokesperson, in a statement provided by the law firm’s public relations team.

When asked about the latest footage of Pretti, DHS told EWTN News that Homeland Security Investigations “is reviewing” it.

Calls for prayer

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis has asked for prayers for Pretti, for his parents, and for his loved ones after his death.

“While we rightly thirst for God’s justice and hunger for his peace, this will not be achieved until we are able to rid our hearts of the hatreds and prejudices that prevent us from seeing each other as brothers and sisters created in the image and likeness of God,” Hebda wrote.

Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, reminded the faithful that “peace is built on respect for people” in a Jan. 25 statement.

Pope Leo XIV “reminds us that ‘the Gospel must be proclaimed and lived in every setting, serving as a leaven of fraternity and peace among all individuals, cultures, religions, and peoples,’” he said.

Jesuit Father R.J. Fichtinger, pastor at St. Thomas More Catholic Parish in St. Paul, Minnesota, said at Mass Jan. 24: “Actions that are against the moral law of God — we can rightly criticize. The killings in the last several weeks can be criticized.”

“But we have to hold on to a core tenet … that is incredibly difficult to sit with sometimes,” Fichtinger said. “That each and every person is created in the image and likeness of God. Unless we hold that fundamental principle as our anchor, we risk becoming as divorced from reality as anyone else.”

Update: This story was updated on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 at 4 p.m. ET to include information about a Jan. 13 video and comments from the Pretti family’s lawyer. It was further updated Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 at 5:40 p.m. ET to include a White House statement, a DHS statement, and information from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Source: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/priest-who-worked-with-alex-pretti-says-he-was-known-for-kindness