Yesterday (Jan. 24), 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti was fatally shot by United States Border Patrol amid ongoing anti-ICE protests in the area. It was the third ICE-related shooting in the city this month, and since then, numerous rockers have reacted to the incident in relation to the overarching political climate regarding ICE.
What Happened to Alex Pretti + What Have Rockers Said?
There’s a lot to know about yesterday’s protests and the killing of Alex Pretti. But, suffice it to say here that – as NBC reported yesterday – Pretti was an “ICU nurse” who “served at a Veterans Affairs facility” and who was “shot just before 9 a.m. after a heated confrontation between agents and protesters who opposed the government’s immigration enforcement tactics, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a news conference.”
Understandably, the incident – which follows the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renée Good and the Jan. 14 non-fatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, both also in Minneapolis – has gotten the attention of numerous rock and metal artists over the past day.
For instance, God Forbid/Snot/ex-Bad Wolves guitarist Doc Coyle has posted over a dozen tweets in response to the Pretti shooting (and the Trump administration) since yesterday.
He replied to someone by posting photos of Martin Luther King Jr. in jail while commenting: “Protest and civil disobedience go hand in hand. Learn some history. Why do you think MLK, Malcolm X, Medger Evers, Gandhi were killed? Because they obeyed all the rules. You can’t change things without disruption.”
Then, he replied to the same person (who suggested that “civil disobedience” will result in “more casualties”) by clarifying:
If ICE had arrested the 2 people they shot to death the last couple of weeks, it’s not news. I showed you a picture of MLK in JAIL. Not in a fucking coffin. You can arrest people for civil disobedience. But you shouldn’t kill them. Unless there are extreme circumstances. But doesn’t affect you, right? They fucked around and found out, right? You’re a real humanist.
During the same exchange, Coyle also asked the other X user: “Serious question, when you see protests in other countries on news, do you just always assume those people are dumb and have no good reason to protest?”
Around the same time, he tweeted a lengthier explanation of his views:
What really is interesting/confounding to me is how we attempt to understand and judge these killings that are caught on camera.
It’s like we instinctively understand that there is some spectrum or scale between 1-10, where a killing is completely justified like some hatchet wielding psychopath or a literal shootout with an assailant at one end and the other is like a cop shooting a kid with an ice cream cone he thought was a gun.
But the incidents that become these big stories are usually more up to interpretation. It’s somewhere between 4-6 on the scale. And then we rip it apart frame by frame like a replay on play from sports.
And people decide if it’s 1 inch over the line in one direction it’s either vicious, evil murder 187 or 100% justified, self defense, no other choice.
And morality just can’t work that way even if the law does. If there is a god, you think he’s playing the game tape at the pearly gates to see what Inch you are in the direction of? Hell or heaven by an inch? That doesn’t make sense.
I imagine a cop might kill someone who totally deserved but still is wrought with guilt. Like Superman killing Zod at the end of Man of Steel.
And I think that should be our societal reckoning. That violent killing of any kind is tragic. But this administration has removed any humanity from this. They are always 100% right the dead American is terrorist, psycho, killer, and their death should be celebrated.
This is mass moral decay. We shouldn’t accept this. A moral, decent society would try to avoid violently killing anyone. Even if it has to happen now and again.
He also retweeted footage of an ICE agent claiming that he’s photographing someone’s car to put them in “a nice little database” of “domestic terrorist[s],” asserting: “They don’t kill you because you’re a terrorist. They call you terrorist so they can kill you. Yeah, it’s like that other stupid slogan, except this one is actually true.”
Lastly, Coyle posted the famous “Tank Man” photo from the 1989 protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, captioning: “Just comply and you won’t’ have any trouble.”
Elsewhere, Journey guitarist Neal Schon shared a photo of Pretti’s confrontation with an agent, writing: “This is fucking insane and it all needs to stop.”
Shortly thereafter, Schon replied to Stephen King’s tweet that “ICE is the American Gestapo” by simply stating: “Hired thugs.”
Silent Planet vocalist Garrett Russell first posted about the Pretti shooting by retweeting an October 2025 post by Homeland Security that showed a picture from the Halo video game series with Homeland Security remarking: “Finishing this fight.” Russell’s retweet also included him asking, “I mean who could’ve seen this coming tho.”
Later, Russell tweeted, “i’m getting word that all ten ICE agents that took part in today’s curbside execution have been taken to the hospital for internal bleeding” and “i just know J.D. Vance is currently listening to Nikki Minaj while he applies his Door-to-Door Diva™️ eyeshadow, thinking about how to spin today’s execution into reasons why more civil liberties should be taken away from us”
Also, All That Remains lead singer Phil Labonte retweeted a video of Pretti’s altercation with agents, writing: “the more videos i see the more it looks like the god damned Sig caused the shooting. this escalated WICKED fast and it’s a total shitshow.”
Finally, outspoken guitarist Tom Morello replied to someone claiming that he “support[s] white men with guns” by retorting: “You support masked federal government secret police murdering US citizens now. Got it. (PS—ur likely a paid MAGA troll bot living in S. East Asia, but anyway).”
READ MORE: ICE Recruitment Ads No Longer Running on Spotify Following Artist Backlash
Tom Morello’s Retweets
Since yesterday, Morello has also been retweeting similar sentiments by other X accounts.
For example, he retweeted author Zito Madu’s response to footage of the killing: “So all of it started because they decided to push the woman, and when the dude stepped in to stop them from assaulting her, they killed him. Insane.”
He also reposted The Airborne Toxic Event singer Mikel Jollett saying: “All of these ‘right to carry’ dipshits who have been screaming about tyranny for 100 years are suddenly weak scared little bootlicking fucks when confronted with actual tyranny.”
Plus, Morello shared BreakThrough News’ footage of thousands of people “rally[ing] in front of Washington, DC ICE headquarters chanting, ‘F*ck Ice!’ after today’s killing of 37 year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.”
In addition, he reposted Chuck D sharing a drawing of ICE while contextualizing: “Fire And Ice : Blood Of The New Gestapo.
Below are some other things Morello has retweeted within the last 24 hours:
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Gallery Credit: Jordan Blum
