Michael and Susan Pretti keep a box filled with more than 200 letters that have arrived at their suburban Denver home since their son, Alex Pretti, was shot and killed by US federal immigration agents in Minneapolis last month.
Some letters are from veterans and healthcare workers who knew him as an intensive-care nurse at the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Others come from strangers who say they saw video of his final moments and believe he was trying to help someone when he was killed.
In their first extended interview since his death on January 24, the Prettis said the letters remind them of who their 37-year-old son was beyond the headlines and political rhetoric.
“He’s my first born,” Susan Pretti told the New York Times. “There was no reason he should have died that day.”
A protest, a confrontation and a fatal shooting
Alex Pretti was shot during protests linked to a major immigration crackdown that brought thousands of federal agents to Minnesota. Administration officials have described him as a domestic terrorist who sought to harm law enforcement and pointed to the fact that he was carrying a handgun with a valid permit.
His parents strongly dispute that characterisation. They say video footage from the scene shows that he never drew his weapon and was on his knees, already disarmed, when he was shot.
To them, the footage is painful but definitive. Michael Pretti said he struggles to watch it, yet believes it demonstrates that his son did not deserve to die on a snowy Minneapolis street.
Their lawyer, Steven Schleicher, said the family is seeking answers and accountability, and wants a full accounting of what happened that morning.
A life rooted in curiosity and care
The Prettis describe themselves as a close-knit Midwestern family who raised Alex and his younger sister, Micayla, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Dinner was a nightly ritual. They attended games and school events and tried to stay deeply involved in their children’s lives.
From an early age, they said, Alex was intensely curious. As a child he once peeled back wallpaper in his bedroom simply to see what was behind it. He devoured books about space and science and immersed himself in music and theatre, playing instruments and singing in a boys’ choir.
“There was always an underlying seriousness to him,” his mother said. He was especially troubled by cruelty, often upset when classmates were bullied.
After graduating high school in 2006, he attended the University of Minnesota and eventually settled in Minneapolis. He worked as a research assistant before becoming a nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital, often working overnight shifts. He regularly called his parents after long nights at work.
Earlier encounter with federal agents
About a week before his death, Alex told his parents about a confrontation with federal agents. Video from that earlier incident shows him spitting toward an agent and kicking a vehicle before being tackled and briefly detained. He appears to have been carrying a handgun at the time.
His parents said he did not share many details but told them he had been hurt and was fine. They urged him to be careful, advice they say they always gave their children.
Critics have cited that earlier episode as evidence of aggression. The family’s lawyer has argued that nothing that occurred days earlier could justify the use of deadly force later.
Final conversations and lasting memories
The last time they spoke to Alex was the day before he died. His garage door had broken in the extreme cold, and his father helped coordinate repairs from afar. Alex later called to say it had been fixed and mentioned tipping the repairman generously.
To his parents, that detail reflects the man they knew: thoughtful, attentive and quick to help others.
They believe his final moments were consistent with that character. According to them, he was trying to assist a woman who had been shoved during the protest.
“His last act on this earth was to help this woman,” his father said.
As they plan a private memorial service for the spring, memories surface constantly: him guiding his younger sister up the stairs as a child, tinkering with his mountain bike, asking imaginative questions about the world.
“If we could push a button,” Michael Pretti said quietly, “we’d have Alex back with us.”
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