Pretti family: ‘We have not heard anything from the federal government’

Nine months after Customs and Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in south Minneapolis, Pretti’s parents are publicly calling on the U.S. Justice Department to release information and evidence related to Pretti’s killing.

“We are here today begging for the Department of Justice to do what is right — to hold the men who killed our son accountable for what they did,” Alex’s mother Susan Pretti said at a press conference in Minneapolis Tuesday. 

Customs and Border Patrol agents tackled Alex Pretti to the ground, disarmed him, then shot him in the back several times on Jan. 24 during Operation Metro Surge. Six days later, Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the FBI was opening a civil rights investigation into the killing. But federal prosecutors have not charged any of the agents involved, and after much back-and-forth over evidence sharing, Minnesota law enforcement leaders said in a court filing last week that the feds are again refusing to hand over key pieces of evidence to local investigators. 

The federal government is also stonewalling the Pretti family, they said.

“We have not heard anything from the federal government,” Alex’s father Michael Pretti said. He called out the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Daniel Rosen, by name: “(He) has stonewalled us for nine months, refusing to share a single update at any time. His only words have been, ‘I can’t tell.’”

Steve Schleicher, the family’s attorney, said he sent a letter to the Justice Department three months ago on behalf of the Pretti family, requesting information about the investigation, including the names of the shooters. (The shooters were independently identified by ProPublica, but not by the federal government.)

“We haven’t received a response,” Schleicher said. “We have not even received acknowledgement.”

The Pretti family, while pressuring the federal government to move forward with the investigation, also wanted to tell the public more about Alex. 

He researched molecular biology at the University of Minnesota before becoming a nurse in the intensive care unit at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. He grew up in Wisconsin in a “in a tight and a blessed family,” his father said. 

“He understood right from wrong, and did not tolerate bullies,” Susan Pretti said. “He was intensely curious. He always wanted to do the right thing.”

Michael Pretti said the family has received more than 2,000 letters and cards from people mourning Alex. They brought some from their home in Colorado to display on the table in front of them as they spoke. 

“Thank you to the strangers who have written to us,” Susan Pretti said. “That has truly helped us with our grief.”