Two CBP Agents Identified in Alex
Pretti Shooting
The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis
protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol
agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.
February 1, 2026, 4:10 pm
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The
two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti
are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and
Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.
The
records viewed by ProPublica list Ochoa, 43, and Gutierrez, 35, as the shooters
during the deadly encounter last weekend that left Pretti dead and ignited
massive protests and calls for criminal investigations.
Both
men were assigned to Operation Metro Surge, an immigration enforcement dragnet
launched in December that sent scores of armed and masked agents across the
city.
CBP,
which employs both men, has so far refused to release their names and has
disclosed few other facts about the deadly incident, which came days after a
different immigration agent shot and killed another Minneapolis protester, a
37-year-old mother of three named Renee Good.
Pretti’s
killing, and the subsequent secrecy surrounding the agents involved, comes as
the country confronts the consequences of President Donald Trump’s aggressive
immigration crackdown. The sweeps in cities across the country have been marked
by scenes of violence, against immigrants and U.S. citizens, by agents allowed
to hide their identities with masks — an almost unheard of practice in law
enforcement. As a result, the public has been kept from one of the chief ways
it has to hold officers involved in such altercations accountable: their
identity.
Both
Democratic and Republican lawmakers have called for a transparent
investigation into the killing of Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit
nurse working at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital.
“We
must have a transparent, independent investigation into the Minnesota shooting,
and those responsible—no matter their title—must be held accountable,”
Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah wrote on X on Monday.
The
agency sent a notice to some members of Congress on Tuesday acknowledging that
two agents fired Glock pistols during the altercation that left Pretti dead.
That notice does not include the agents’ names. A spokesperson for the
Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, said the agents had been
placed on leave after the Jan. 24 shooting. And after a week of protests and
calls from lawmakers for a review, the Justice Department said Friday that its
Civil Rights Division is investigating the shooting. A DOJ spokesperson did not
answer questions, including whether DHS has shared materials, such as
body-camera footage, with its investigators.
Ochoa
is a Border Patrol agent who joined CBP in 2018. Gutierrez joined in 2014 and
works for CBP’s Office of Field Operations. He is assigned to a special
response team, which conducts high-risk operations like those of police SWAT
units. Records show both men are from South Texas.
In the
aftermath of the shooting, Gregory Bovino, who has orchestrated high-intensity
immigration sweeps and arrests in a string of Democratic-led cities since early
2025, was removed from his role as Border Patrol commander at large and
reassigned to his former post in El Centro, California.
A
spokesperson for DHS declined to answer questions about the two agents and
referred ProPublica to the FBI. The FBI declined to comment. ProPublica made
several attempts to call Ochoa and Gutierrez but neither answered.
Ochoa,
who goes by Jesse, graduated from the University of Texas-Pan American with a
degree in criminal justice, according to his ex-wife, Angelica Ochoa. A
longtime resident of the Rio Grande Valley, Ochoa had for years dreamed of
working for the Border Patrol and finally landed a job there, she said. By the
time the couple split in 2021, he had become a gun enthusiast with about 25
rifles, pistols and shotguns, Angelica Ochoa said.
DHS’
disclosure to Congress was drawn from an internal review of the agents’
body-camera footage, which has not been released to the public. State
investigators, meanwhile, have accused their federal counterparts of blocking
them from investigating the shooting.
“We
don’t have any information on the shooters,” a Minneapolis city spokesperson
said. A spokesperson for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday that his office
also had “not been given the names, and we don’t have any new information on
the investigation.”
Democrats
on the House Judiciary Committee, in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi Monday,
accused the Justice Department of covering up evidence in both Pretti’s and
Good’s killings.
“DOJ
has also blocked prosecutors and agents from cooperating with state law
enforcement officials and prevented state officials from accessing evidence,”
the letter said.
Maryland
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told CNN
on Sunday that immigration agents should not be masked.
“They
should not be anonymous. They should be identifiable. And they have to have
rules of engagement that don’t allow them to terrorize and intimidate, harass
and assault U.S. citizens and other people,” he said.
The
notice to Congress said that the shooting happened when Pretti resisted arrest
after officers were unable to get him and a female protester out of the street.
The
CBP officer “attempted to move the woman and Pretti out of the roadway. The
woman and Pretti did not move,” the report reads. “CBP personnel attempted to
take Pretti into custody. Pretti resisted CBP personnel’s efforts and a
struggle ensued.”
According
to the report, one agent then yelled “He’s got a gun!” multiple times, and two
others “discharged” their Glock pistols.
In
videos widely shared online, Pretti can be seen holding up a phone, documenting
the movements of federal agents and officers as they roamed the streets of a
popular food and arts district. According to news reports, Pretti was concerned
about the increasingly volatile siege of the city by federal agents.
In the
videos, a masked agent appears to knock a woman to the ground. Pretti comes to
her aid, getting between them, at which point the officer deploys pepper spray
at his face. Two agents then grab Pretti and pull him to the ground, while more
federal personnel pile on. During the struggle, the agents unleash a series of
shots — approximately 10 — as onlookers scream.
Pretti
was armed at the time of the encounter with a legally owned handgun, according
to state and federal officials. Some analyses of bystander video appear to show
a federal agent taking Pretti’s gun from his hip before
the first shots were fired. The agents’ masks and the chaos of the altercation
make it difficult to differentiate one from another.
Those
videos appear to contradict the claims by Bovino and other officials, including
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, that Pretti had come to attack agents.
“The
agents attempted to disarm the individual, but he violently resisted,” Bovino
said in a Jan. 25 news conference. “Fearing for his life and the lives and
safety of fellow officers, a Border Patrol agent fired defensive shots.”
In the
initial aftermath, Stephen Miller, a top Trump aide and a leading force behind
the immigration enforcement operations, called Pretti “a would-be assassin.”
But Miller changed tack later in the week when he said in a statement that CBP officers “may not
have been following” protocol related to confronting bystanders.
Additional
video has surfaced showing Pretti in another altercation with federal agents 11
days before he was killed. The video shows Pretti yelling at the agents, who
get in an SUV and start to drive away. Pretti then kicks out the taillight of
the vehicle and the agents, who wore protective masks, jump out and tackle him
to the ground.
It is
unclear if any of the same agents were involved in both incidents.
Lauren
Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, said
that many local and state police departments are “much more transparent” than
CBP when officers shoot people. “More and more police departments are choosing
to release bodycam footage or dashcam footage within a couple of days.”
Gil
Kerlikowske, a former CBP commissioner, told ProPublica that it’s difficult to
draw conclusions from the chaos in bystander videos. Still, he said, the
shooting might have been prevented. Pretti’s attempt to help the woman knocked
to the ground could have been seen as interfering with federal law enforcement,
he said. But the decision by the officers to immediately use pepper spray
created a chaotic scene that likely contributed to Pretti’s death.
“The
other agent could have said ‘don’t interfere’ or ‘stand back,’” Kerlikowske
said. “Rather than move immediately to pepper spray, you can arrest the
person.” It’s part of a pattern, he said, of federal officers jumping straight to use of force in
situations that could have been de-escalated but instead create danger for both
agents and their targets.
Pretti’s
death, and the federal government’s characterization of the event, sparked
immediate protests, spurring thousands of people to go out into frigid
conditions in Minneapolis and other American cities. The shooting has also
drawn intense criticism from political leaders, including Walz, who has
promised his state’s law enforcement will conduct its own criminal
investigation.
