Did CNN report that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who "un-alived" Minnesota nurse Alex Pretti and claimed "self-defense" was found "not-guilty"? No, that's not true: A search across the network's website did not show any CNN story saying that happened. Talking to Lead Stories, CNN's spokesperson said that the claim is false. As of this writing, none of the ongoing investigations into Pretti's death has led to a public trial.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on Feb. 15, 2026. It opened:
BREAKING: The ICE Agent who claimed 'self-defense' against a fully-armed male nurse in Minnesota, has been found NOT-GUILTY in a Minneapolis court this morning.
The post contained an image with the CNN logo and the breaking news bottom banner. It displayed the text describing the fatal shooting as an act during which the federal agent:
... UN-ALIVED A MALE NURSE THAT BROUGHT GUNS AND AMMO TO A 'PEACEFUL' PROTEST...
This is what that picture looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/PatrickWCutler)
A Google search across the CNN website for the keywords seen here (archived here) did not yield any relevant reports confirming the viral claim.
On February 16, 2026, CNN's Senior Vice President of Communications Emily Kuhn (archived here) refuted the rumor in an email to Lead Stories:
It is a false and misleading graphic. CNN did not report what the manipulated image says.
In a follow-up email received on the same day, she clarified what she meant by the "manipulated image":
I was referring to placing a CNN logo on something not produced or verified from CNN.
Earlier, on Feb. 1, 2026, investigative outlet ProPublica reported that, based on the review of the government records, its team identified (archived here) two people involved in the fatal shooting: Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.
Lead Stories looked up those names on Public Access to Court Electronic Records (archived here), also known as PACER, which shows federal court filings. As of this writing, it did not display any cases against such persons filed in 2026 following Pretti's death on Jan. 24 (archived here).
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page at uscourts.gov)
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page at uscourts.gov)
No cases mentioning those agents in connection to Pretti's death (archived here) were found on CourtListener (archived here and here), a nonprofit providing public access to court materials.
Searches on Google Scholar's Case Law for the keywords seen here (archived here) and here (archived here) did not produce any results.
Lead Stories looked up state cases in Minnesota, too, but that did not confirm the claim on X, either: As seen here and here, that state's database did not show any 2026 cases involving the people identified by ProPublica.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office in Minnesota concluded that Pretti's cause of death was homicide (archived here).
On Feb. 16, 2026, Superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Drew Evans (archived here) said (archived here and here) that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is one of the entities investigating Pretti's death, formally denied his agency access to the files related to the circumstances of the fatal shooting.
The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division launched its own probe as well (archived here).
As of Feb. 16, 2026, no credible media organization reported that the court case against one or more ICE agents involved in Pretti's death reached its final stage, according to Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here and here).
Following the Jan. 24, 2026, shooting, multiple rumors about it populated social media platforms.
Contrary to the initial claims (archived here and here) that Pretti intended to attack immigration officers, the video evidence (archived here) showed he never attempted (archived here) to draw the licensed gun he was carrying before agents removed the firearm from him in the seconds before they shot and killed him.
