Alex Pretti Dedicated His Life to Caring for Veterans — Did He Serve in the Military?

There are several videos of Alex Pretti's final moments before his death. The 37-year-old was fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, 2026. He was documenting an arrest and stopped to help a fellow bystander who had been assaulted by an agent. Following his murder, an earlier video of Pretti in an altercation with federal agents was shared by an outlet filming a documentary about ICE activity in Minneapolis.

In the other video, Pretti is seen yelling at agents, spitting on their vehicle, then kicking out the taillight before he was tackled and brought to the ground. Then there is the video of Pretti at his job as an ICU nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital. He was honoring a patient who had passed. The footage was shared by that man's son. Pretti cared for those who served, which is not an easy job. It begs the question: Did he ever serve in the military? Here's what we know.

Pretti never served in the military, but his career in Veterans Affairs started more than a decade ago. That's when he was hired as a research assistant at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System by Dr. Aasma Shaukat. She told ABC News that Pretti didn't have a lot of experience, but was "eager to learn."

She remembered Pretti's incredible work ethic and his desire to learn as much as possible. Dr. Shaukat was also the person who wrote him a recommendation for nursing school. Upon completion, he returned to the same VA hospital where Shauka said Pretti was "really good" with the patients.

Annette Neist, a neighbor of Pretti’s, told The Guardian that the two spoke about his job, which he loved. Pretti said he loved his "old guys," which was a nickname for his patients. According to Neist, he was always deeply affected by the loss of one of them. "He was a kind, compassionate human who cared about people and would do anything to help," she said. "Let that be his legacy."

Several members of Pretti's childhood choir spoke with The Guardian about the person they used to know. Travis Vanden Heuvel found out about the circumstances of Pretti's death from their former choir director. He was shocked. The two met through the Green Bay Boy Choir in Wisconsin. "The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Alex was his smile," recalled Vanden Heuvel. "He was someone who was always very happy and energetic; he was a very kind person."

Another former choir friend, JD Atkins, said everyone wanted to be just like Pretti. "He was just a generous, kind person, very, very affable and likable," said Atkins. When the two of them ended up performing in the same school play, Atkins recalled feeling grateful to Pretti for taking the time to run lines with him. "I can remember his hand on my shoulder backstage and him telling me, 'You know you’re going to be great, it’s going to be OK.'"