The parents of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse killed during a federal law enforcement operation earlier this year, broke their nine-month silence on Thursday to demand transparency from the Department of Justice. Michael and Susan Pretti, joined by their attorney Steve Schleicher, held their first press conference since the fatal incident to express mounting frustration over the lack of information regarding the investigation into their son’s death.
Alex Pretti was killed on January 24, 2026, during a federal initiative known as “Operation Metro Surge.” The operation involved multiple federal immigration agencies and has remained under heavy scrutiny. According to government records, the specific agents involved in the shooting have been identified as 43-year-old Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and 35-year-old Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.
Despite the passage of nine months, federal authorities have yet to file any charges against the agents involved. The Pretti family and their legal counsel emphasized that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has not been transparent in its findings, leaving the family with little clarity on the circumstances that led to the fatal shooting. Schleicher noted that the family has essentially been left in the dark while the federal government maintains control over the evidence and the investigative timeline.
The case has also highlighted a significant jurisdictional rift between federal and state investigators. Earlier in the investigation, reports surfaced that the FBI declined to share access to critical shooting evidence with Minnesota state officials. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) had been seeking access to the evidence to conduct its own review, but federal authorities reportedly refused to cooperate, further complicating the push for accountability at the state level.
Alex Pretti’s family described him as a dedicated medical professional who was serving his community as an ICU nurse at the time he was killed. For his parents, the delay in the investigation has compounded the tragedy of his loss. They used the press conference to call on the DOJ to expedite the release of their findings and provide a clear, public accounting of the events that occurred during the Metro Surge operation.
As of this week, the Department of Justice has not issued a formal statement regarding the current status of the investigation or a specific date for when the results might be made public. The agents involved, Ochoa and Gutierrez, remain at the center of a probe that has produced few public answers nearly a year after the shooting occurred.
