The two federal agents who opened fire during the killing of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti have been unmasked.
Government records obtained by ProPublica identify the immigration goons as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa, 43, and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez, 35. Both hail from South Texas.
Ochoa joined Customs and Border Protection in 2018, while Gutierrez joined in 2014. They were both assigned to Operation Metro Surge, an immigration operation launched in December.
Gutierrez works for CBP’s Office of Field Operations and is assigned to a special response team that functions similarly to a SWAT unit, according to ProPublica. Ochoa’s ex-wife, Angelica Ochoa, told the outlet that he got his criminal justice degree from the University of Texas-Pan American.
Angelica said her ex-husband had dreamed for years of working for the Border Patrol. By the time they separated in 2021, she added, Ochoa had become a gun enthusiast with about 25 rifles, pistols, and shotguns. Records show that he has an active voter registration as a republican.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of CBP, told the Daily Beast in a statement that they will “never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers,” adding that “this matter remains under investigation.”
“Publicizing their identities puts their lives and the lives of their families at serious risk,” the DHS spokesperson said. In an editor’s note, ProPublica said it was releasing the names of the agents because “there are few investigations that deserve more sunlight and public scrutiny than this one.”
Pretti, 37, was shot dead in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 after a scuffle with multiple federal agents. His killing came just days after Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot point-blank by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in the same embattled city.
Video accounts of the incident showed agents ganging up on Pretti and pepper-spraying him after he came to the aid of a woman who had been pushed down. Moments later, several shots rang out as bystanders screamed.
A preliminary report sent by CBP to congressional officials last week found that two agents opened fire during the struggle with Pretti.
“CBP personnel attempted to take Pretti into custody. Pretti resisted CBP personnel’s efforts and a struggle ensued. During the struggle, a BPA (Border Patrol agent) yelled, ‘He’s got a gun!’ multiple times,” the report read. “Approximately five seconds later, a BPA discharged his CBP-issued Glock 19 and a CBPO also discharged his CBP-issued Glock 47 at Pretti.”
The Border Patrol agents involved in the incident have been placed on paid leave.
Administration officials were quick to brand Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” seeking to “massacre law enforcement,” but the firestorm over the two killings forced President Donald Trump to turn down the temperature.
Last week, Trump benched his Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and demoted Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino. He has sent border czar Tom Homan to oversee immigration operations in Minneapolis.
“They met with the governor and the mayor and everybody else,” Trump said of Homan. “And we’re going to de-escalate a little bit.”
