Seven months after Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, his family is speaking out about the agonizing way they learned of his death — and why they’re still demanding answers.

Alex’s parents, Michael and Susan, and sister, Micayla, gave their first TV interview since the 37-year-old ICU nurse was killed on Jan. 24, sitting down with Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos for an emotional conversation that aired on the ABC news show Tuesday, Aug. 25.

“We really want to get the facts out about what happened to Alex that day,” Michael said. “We’ve seen what happened, the videos are pretty clear. But we want justice, we want accountability for the people that did this to Alex.”

Alex Pretti.va.gov
For the Pretti family, the horror of that day began with a phone call from a stranger.

Micayla recalled that her husband received a call from an unknown number asking whether they knew “an Alex J. Pretti” and whether they had heard from him because he “might have been in an incident with ICE.”

“I thought it was a scam,” she said. But when she tried calling her brother, his phone went straight to voicemail. “I was freaking out.”

Susan immediately called Hennepin County Medical Center but said she couldn’t get confirmation about her son. “I begged,” she said.

Susan Pretti, Michael Pretti and Micayla Pretti, speaking with George Stephanopoulos on ‘Good Morning America’.ABC
By then, footage of the shooting was already being broadcast on television. “We watched it on TV and was like, ‘That’s our son. That’s Alex.’ And they killed him,” Michael recounted. “No one called us.”

“We still haven’t heard from anyone,” Susan added.

“That’s how we found out,” Michael continued. “Watching it on TV. Watching our son be shot 10 times on TV.”

“In the back,” Susan said.

A photo of Alex Pretti at the makeshift memorial in the area where he was shot dead by federal immigration agents earlier in the day in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Jan. 24, 2026.ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty
The family said they initially recognized Alex from his jacket and sunglasses. But they weren’t surprised by what they saw him doing in the moments before he was killed.

“I was not shocked that he helped somebody,” Susan said. “My shock is that he was murdered and no one has given us the complete truth or anyone has been held accountable. And it’s been seven months.”

Alex, a U.S. citizen, worked as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and had previously assisted with scientific research at the University of Minnesota. Those who knew him described him after his death as a dedicated nurse who cared deeply about helping others.

“He was a good man,” Michael told Stephanopoulos, while Susan described her son as “a good kid.”

“He cared deeply about his community. Minneapolis was his community,” Michael continued. “He wanted people to be treated fairly, no matter what walk of life, what their background was.”

Micayla called her brother her “hero … because of who he was as a person.” She said, “I aspire to be like him. He always stood up for what he believed in.”

Michael also disputed the characterization that Alex had gone to the area that morning to protest. “He wasn’t really protesting. And that’s one thing we want to be clear: The day he was murdered, he was not at a protest,” Michael said. “He was an observer. That’s why he had his phone.”

Michael Pretti in an interview with ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’.ABC
Alex was killed shortly after 9 a.m. near the intersection of 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s large-scale immigration enforcement campaign in Minnesota.

In the immediate aftermath, the Department of Homeland Security claimed Alex approached federal officers with a handgun and “violently resisted” when officers attempted to disarm him.

But bystander videos of the encounter raised questions about that account. The footage showed him holding a phone as he recorded federal officers before an officer pushed a woman toward him. Alex appeared to move to help her when officers pepper-sprayed him and wrestled him to the ground.

Alex was legally carrying a handgun and had a permit to do so. Video appeared to show an officer removing the firearm from his person as multiple officers restrained him on the ground. Moments later, two federal officers opened fire, shooting him 10 times.

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Alex’s family has maintained that he never posed the threat federal officials initially described.

In the hours after his death, several Trump administration officials publicly characterized him as a violent threat. Then-Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino said it appeared Alex “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,” while then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said he had “committed an act of domestic terrorism.”

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called Alex “an assassin,” a message Vice President JD Vance reposted.

“There was more effort in vilifying him than in pursuing justice, investigating this,” Michael told Stephanopoulos, noting that Miller’s characterization was particularly “disgusting.”

Susan grew emotional as she reflected on hearing those descriptions of her son months later. “We still hear those words about our child,” she said. “A kid who is out observing something that should not be happening in this world today, in the United States. Why? What did he do to deserve to be murdered? To be left cold on the ground dead? My child? What did he do?”

Donald Trump and Alex Pretti.Win McNamee/Getty; US Department of Veteran Affairs
Video that emerged after Alex’s death showed that he had been involved in a separate confrontation with federal agents 11 days earlier, during which he kicked a taillight on a federal vehicle before agents tackled him. President Donald Trump subsequently cited the footage while calling Alex an “agitator” and “possible insurrectionist.”

“So unpresidential,” Michael said, when asked his reaction to Trump’s rhetoric. “It’s ridiculous that the leader of the free world speaks that way about an American citizen.”

Seven months later, the family said they have received no communication from Trump, Vance, Miller or Noem. “[It] tells me they don’t care,” Michael said. “They do what they want.”

“How are you supposed to trust the government after that?” Micayla added.

Susan, meanwhile, said she still expects the administration to apologize for what was said about her son. “I expect an apology! Why shouldn’t we get one?” she said. “For what they said.”

PEOPLE reached out to the White House to see whether Trump and Miller still stand by their remarks about Alex. White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement that “President Trump’s response has remained consistent throughout this entire situation: he views Mr. Pretti’s death as a tragedy and has advocated for a fact-based investigation.”

Bis added that the public should “not obstruct law enforcement operations.”

Susan Pretti in an interview with ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’.ABC
Beyond an apology, the family is still waiting to learn whether anyone will be held responsible for Alex’s death. The Justice Department opened a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting shortly afterward, but attorney Steven L. Schleicher — who represents the family — said they still know little about where it stands.

“I know they’ve been saying they’ve been doing an investigation,” Schleicher said. “We don’t know where it stands. We don’t know what information they’ve gathered.”

He went on to note how legally, the family has the right to know who shot Alex, to be meaningfully consulted, to meet with prosecutors and to be kept informed without the process dragging on indefinitely. “That’s just not being done here,” Schleicher said. “Instead what we get is just gaslighting and word salad from the federal government.”

Pretti family lawyer Steven L. Schleicher in an interview with ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’.ABC
Schleicher said in a letter to then-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche last month that the U.S. attorney in Minnesota met with the Pretti family on July 13, but that the meeting “raised more questions than answers.”

In a statement to ABC News, a Justice Department spokesperson said that “as is standard protocol, family member communications, if any, come at a later stage of a case, such as at indictment, initial appearance, plea, trial, or sentencing.”

“Communications with family do not typically occur during an investigation,” the spokesperson added.

The Department of Homeland Security told ABC News that the matter “remains under active investigation.” The FBI declined to comment.

Following the interview, Schleicher pushed back directly on the Justice Department’s characterization of its handling of the family as standard procedure. “There is nothing standard about the government ignoring the Pretti family, obstructing an investigation and harboring and protecting the individuals who murdered their son,” he said in a statement. “It defies common sense and common decency and is unjust.”

“This is nothing more than a continuation of the same hollow and cruel treatment the Pretti family has received from the Department of Justice for more than seven months,” he added.

Micayla Pretti in an interview with ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’.ABC
For Alex’s family, those seven months have done little to dull the anguish over what happened to him — or their determination to see the two officers who fired the shots held responsible. “There are two shooters. They need to be held accountable,” Susan said. “Why do they get to just go about their everyday business?”

The federal government has not publicly identified the two officers — though ProPublica, citing government records, reported their names in February. That’s not cutting it for Micayla, who said, “I want their names to be released.”

Susan noted the stakes extend beyond what happened to her own son. She also invoked Renée Good, another U.S. citizen who was fatally shot by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis in January.

“I understand that immigration, there is a policy in place, I understand that,” she said. “But this is not the way to do it. People need to be held responsible when they murder people in this country. Period.”

“Alex should not, nor Renée or anyone else, should have been murdered and the case just what? Disappear?” Susan continued. “No.”

A makeshift memorial in the area Alex Pretti was shot dead by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 25, 2026.ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty
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While the family continues to wait for answers, Michael said they have found some comfort in the public’s reaction to Alex’s death. “The response that we’ve had around the world, the positive response, it’s not going to bring Alex back — of course not. But it does help,” he said.

The family has received more than 2,000 cards and letters. “We’ve read every single word of those cards,” Michael said, “and we’ve kept them all.”