Did Alex Pretti really quit his job?
Executive summary
No credible reporting supports the claim that Alex Pretti quit or was fired from his job as an ICU nurse; multiple reputable outlets and fact-checkers characterized the social-media stories about his alleged dismissal as fabricated or debunked [1] [2] [3]. The false narrative appears to have originated with a fabricated piece on a fringe site and spread through social posts, while mainstream coverage has focused on the circumstances of his killing and subsequent investigations [1] [4] [5].
1. What the deceptive claim said and where it came from
Brief viral posts and a fabricated article on a site called buzzreport247 alleged that Pretti had been dismissed from a supposed Lakeshore Medical Center after complaints of “inappropriate behaviour,” citing a non-existent Dr. Elena Vasquez as a source; that report is the apparent origin of the firing story [2] [1]. Multiple fact-checking and mainstream outlets reviewed the claim and found no record that Pretti worked at the named facility, nor any credible evidence of the alleged internal review or firing, and they called the BuzzReport story false [1] [2] [3].
2. What reliable reporting says about Pretti’s employment
Reporting in established outlets and statements from Pretti’s family describe him as a 37‑year‑old intensive care nurse who worked at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital and cared for veterans, and those sources do not report he was fired or had been dismissed for misconduct [3] [5]. Fact-checkers specifically concluded there is no evidence he was fired from his VA nursing job and labeled the viral misconduct theory false [1] [3].
3. Why the false claim spread and how it interacts with other coverage
The fabricated firing story spread rapidly because it fit a political narrative used to discredit Pretti amid national outrage over his killing by federal agents, and social platforms amplified the assertion even as major outlets concentrated on video of Pretti’s confrontations with federal agents and the official responses [6] [4] [7]. Mainstream reporting has instead focused on footage showing Pretti in a confrontation with federal officers days before his death and on the investigation and administrative leave for the agents involved — topics that are factual and extensively documented [4] [8] [7].
4. What alternative viewpoints and caveats exist in the record
Some commentators and right‑leaning outlets emphasized newly released video of altercations between Pretti and federal agents in the weeks before his death, using that material to suggest character faults or violent tendencies; those portrayals are separate from and do not substantiate claims about employment status, and the footage’s context remains disputed [9] [7] [4]. Investigations and legal reviews into the shooting and the earlier encounter were ongoing in the reporting, and those inquiries could reveal more about behavior during confrontations but would not retroactively validate a fabricated employment claim unless new, verifiable evidence emerged — which none of the surveyed reporting showed [8] [4].
5. Conclusion — the simplest, evidence‑based answer
Based on available reporting from mainstream outlets and fact‑checkers, Alex Pretti did not “quit” or get fired from his ICU nursing job as the viral posts claimed; that narrative has been debunked and traced to a fabricated item on a fringe website, while credible sources describe him as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA and document the misinformation surrounding his death [1] [3] [5]. If definitive employment records or official statements contradict these conclusions, that material was not in the sources reviewed; current, reliable reporting does not support the firing/quit allegation [2].