“I was sobbing and shaking uncontrollably,” the 29-year-old pediatrician said in a witness statement seen by PEOPLE
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A doctor who fought to treat Alex Pretti after he was fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis has claimed that ICE agents appeared to be focused on counting the victim’s bullet wounds instead of performing CPR.
The unnamed 29-year-old — who is a licensed paediatrician and has lived in Minneapolis since 2024 — recalled being woken by “cars honking and whistles blowing” at approximately 9 a.m. local time on Saturday, Jan. 24, per a witness statement included in federal district court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
The physician said their view “was partially obstructed,” but that they’d seen ICE agents shoot the 37-year-old ICU nurse multiple times.
“The scene was chaotic. Many civilians were screaming and honking. Over the noise, I informed the ICE agents that I am a physician, and I asked to assess the victim,” the witness said.
The doctor also alleged the agents wouldn’t let them through at first and had “repeatedly asked” for a physician’s license.
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“None of the ICE agents who were near the victim were performing CPR, and I could tell that the victim was in critical condition,” the physician added in the court papers.
“I insisted that the agents let me assess him. Normally, I would not have been so persistent, but as a physician, I felt a professional and moral obligation to help this man, especially since none of the agents were helping him.”
One agent eventually let the doctor “assess the victim” after they “patted” them down to make sure they “didn’t have a weapon,” the document stated.
“As I approached, I saw that the victim was lying on his side and was surrounded by several ICE agents. I was confused as to why the victim was on his side, because that is not standard practice when a victim has been shot,” the physician added.
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“Checking for a pulse and administering CPR is standard practice,” they continued. “Instead of doing either of those things, the ICE agents appeared to be counting his bullet wounds. I asked the ICE agents if the victim had a pulse, and they said they did not know.”
The physician said the victim had “at least three bullet wounds in his back.” They then asked officers “to turn the victim from his side to his back,” before the doctor noticed “an additional gunshot wound on the victim’s upper left chest and another possible gunshot wound on his neck.”
“I checked for a pulse, but I did not feel one. I immediately began CPR. Shortly after I started compressions, EMS personnel arrived and took over,” the witness said.
The physician said they remained at the scene for around five more minutes after performing CPR on Pretti, before they returned home as “the situation seemed to be escalating.”
They said they were “extremely distraught” and were “sobbing and shaking uncontrollably” after returning to their apartment. After tear gas began seeping into their home, they left to see a nearby friend, before driving 30 minutes to their sister’s house, per the document.
The doctor said they were “devastated by the killing of a Minnesotan by multiple federal immigration agents.”
“From what I could tell, the victim was not actively threatening ICE agents or the public — he was just yelling at the agents because he objected to ICE’s presence in our city,” they added. “A person should not be shot and killed for lawfully expressing their opinions.”
The physician added that they do not know when they will return to their apartment, saying, “I do not feel safe in my city.”
An ICE spokesperson didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for comment.
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Pretti’s death came after 37-year-old mother of three, Renee Nicole Good, was shot and killed by ICE agent, Jonathan Ross, in Minneapolis on the morning of Jan. 7.
Good, who had been driving a maroon Honda Pilot at the time of her death, had just dropped her 6-year-old son off at school,
before her wife Becca, 40, suggested they take a detour, as ICE agents had flooded the city and protesters were already gathering. She never made it home.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a statement on X following Pretti’s death on Jan. 24, which claimed that an individual had “approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun” and “violently resisted” an attempt to disarm him. An agent then “fired defensive shots” at Pretti, per the statement.
However, footage verified by The New York Times appeared to contradict the DHS’s account of the situation. This shows Pretti standing among a group of protesters with both hands visible, while holding his phone in one hand as an agent squirted pepper spray at the group.
Several agents then approached Pretti, who didn’t seem to be holding or pulling a weapon as he was pinned on the sidewalk.
