“Today we remember that freedom is not free. We have to work at it, nurture it, protect it and even sacrifice for it,” Pretti says in the clip

About a year before he was fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis, nurse Alex Pretti paid tribute to one of his patients — in a moment that is now being widely shared online in the wake of his own controversial death.

“Today we remember that freedom is not free. We have to work at it, nurture it, protect it and even sacrifice for it,” Pretti, who worked in the intensive care unit at Minneapolis’ VA Medical Center, said of Terrance Lee Randolph shortly after Randolph died on Dec. 10, 2024.

According to Randolph’s obituary, he was a “cherished husband, father, grandfather, and friend” and died at 77.

Alex Pretti.Mac Randolph via AP; U.S Dept of Veterans Affairs

A clip of Pretti marking Randolph’s military service and memory was shared on social media last week after Pretti was killed. A user describing himself as Randolph’s son, Mac, wrote that Pretti had been his father’s nurse in the ICU.

“He read my dad’s final salute at the VA after he passed away. Never wanted to share this video, but his speech is very on point,” Mac wrote in a caption.

In the footage, Pretti reads aloud at the head of what appears to be Randolph’s hospital bed after his death.

“May we never forget to always remember our brothers and sisters who have served so we may enjoy the gift of freedom,” Pretti says before there is a moment of silence and the bed is escorted away.

Alex Pretti.va.gov

Pretti, 37, was shot and killed by federal officers in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, amid a crackdown there on immigrants without legal status — a signature Trump campaign promise — that has sparked widespread protests and unrest.

There have been several competing accounts of what led to Pretti’s death, with Homeland Security officials painting him as an armed agitator intent on violence who was killed as part of a “defensive” shooting.

Video from the scene seems to plainly contradict this, showing him holding a phone before being swarmed by agents.

Pretti was carrying a weapon at the time but was not holding it, according to videos from the altercation.

He was seemingly disarmed by the agents around him, and he was licensed to carry a handgun.

“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” his family said in a statement.

“Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs,” his family continued. “He has his phone in his right hand, and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed.”

Trump administration officials have taken the opposite view.

“The suspect decided to inject himself into a law enforcement action,” Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino said on CNN on Sunday, Jan. 25.

“What’s not being said here is the fact that Border Patrol agents and law enforcement are conducting a targeted law enforcement effort against a violent illegal alien that was nearby,“ Bovino said, “and that suspect injected himself into that law enforcement situation with a weapon.”

An investigation is ongoing.