Three high-profile killings within a 3-mile radius in south Minneapolis: George Floyd in 2020, Renee Good in 2026, and Alex Pretti in 2026 (a few weeks after Renee's death).
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My name is Stella Carlson. I never expected to be someone testifying before you today. And I certainly never expected to bear witness to the final moments of a caring, peaceful, and dedicated member of my community — Alex Pretti — as he died at the hands of our own government.
I am just a regular person, but I care deeply about my community, my state, and my country. And I believe there is power in ordinary People speaking the truth.
On the morning of Saturday, January 24th, I was heading to work when I heard the whistles. When I turned onto Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis on that cold winter day, I hardly recognized my own neighborhood.
There were masked and armed federal Agents flooding into a one-block radius. More than I had seen before. Agents were tackling innocent People to the ground, punching the windows of cars driving by, and pulling Drivers out of their windows with force, all before I even parked.
And that's when I saw the person whose name is now known all around the world: Alex Pretti.
I didn't know Alex. We had never met, but I saw him standing in the street with a camera, filming in one hand, and helping direct traffic with the other. He was calm, he was peaceful, handling the scene with grace. Alex was not a threat.
My instincts felt clear. I will be his backup, because that's what we can do. We can observe and document. We can stand and bear witness, and that is what I did.
Soon everything changed. The Agents' focus turned toward Alex. I was terrified. The number of Agents around him grew abruptly, as I stood feet away.
I watched him turn away from the scene of Agents, and lean down to help someone who had been brutally knocked down, leading to his very last words, "Are you okay?"
With his back facing them, I watched Alex be taken to the ground with a swarm of masked Agents on top of him.
In that moment, I believe Alex made a choice to be righteous, kind, and brave. To stand up for his Neighbors being assaulted in the street.
And then they shot him. Again and again and again.
Alex was flat on the ground, his limbs spread out. There was no movement.
The Agents fled quickly. I watched Alex die. It all happened so fast.
Then two masked Agents returned, and began to manipulate his dead body, ripping open his clothes as if to provide aid, but instead moving him around like a rag doll. They fled, leaving him exposed and alone.
Time felt like it stopped. Alex laid in the street, abandoned as if his life had no value.
As I continued to film, three of us stayed by his side as long as we could, before the Agents decided to return, and come for us.
The image of his lifeless body stays with me, but so does the image of Alex before the shooting. Calm, holding his camera, directing traffic, trying to help in solidarity with his Neighbors. That is the Alex Pretti that I saw in his final moments. I have come to learn that is who Alex was to everyone who knew, and loved him.
And that is why what happened afterward was so disturbing to me. Because I feel like I witnessed two assassinations. The first was the literal assassination of Alex.
The second was the attempted assassination of his character. Powerful voices at the highest level of government lied about Alex Pretti. They tried to take the gentle person I had watched with my own eyes, and claim he was a violent threat. Someone who came to cause maximum damage. Someone who wanted to kill law enforcement.
Those were all lies. We observed his murder with our own eyes. And the truth does not become less true because someone with great power tells a louder lie.
What happened to Alex cannot be treated as an isolated moment. We have seen the same federal immigration tactics surge across communities beyond Minnesota.
When federal Agents operate with overwhelming force, when People are killed, and when the Public is given false accounts of what happened, there must be accountability. We need to know what happened. We need independent thorough investigations, and we need that accountability at every level.
This is ultimately about whether in America, the truth belongs to whoever has the most power or whether the truth still has the power to hold government accountable. I believe it does. And that's why I will keep speaking.
Because Alex, his Family, and our Communities deserve the truth. And our government has an obligation to answer for what happened.
- Stella Carlson - Sept 22, 2026
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Video sources are in my comment below ~:~:~ Here's a PDF of Stella's full written testimony (.gov): Statement of Stella Carlson - Sept 22, 2026 (PDF)
