Was Alex pretti employed
Executive summary
1. Alex Pretti was employed as an intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System, according to multiple credible reports and his union; there is no reliable evidence he had been fired before his death [1] [2] [3].
2. Reporting by major outlets and statements from labor representatives and family contradict a wave of fabricated articles that claimed Pretti had been dismissed for misconduct; those stories have been traced to spam factories and unverifiable websites [4] [5] [6].
3. How the employment claim is established
Contemporary news outlets, the AFGE local that represented him, and profiles compiled after the shooting identify Pretti as an ICU nurse employed by the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, noting his nursing license and work caring for veterans [1] [2] [3]. Congressional and union statements cited by fact-checkers also describe him as a VA employee rather than a former or terminated staffer [4] [3].
4. How the firing story originated and why it is false
The narrative that Pretti was fired for inappropriate behavior originated in fabricated posts and a phony article from an outlet tied to a spam operation; fact-checkers and mainstream outlets found no record that Pretti worked at the non-VA hospital cited in those pieces and found no corroboration of any disciplinary action in his personnel history [7] [8] [4]. Investigations into the claim traced it to automated content mills and social accounts pushing the false report, while the family and union explicitly refuted assertions that he had quit or been dismissed [6] [4].
5. Why some early social posts created confusion
Screenshots purporting to be federal payroll records and unnamed “sources” circulated on social platforms, and authorities initially withheld full personnel details during the criminal and administrative reviews that followed the shooting; that combination produced a vacuum filled by rumor and opportunistic false reports [9] [10]. Fact-checkers warned that absence of immediate official releases does not validate sensational alternative accounts, and subsequent reporting favored the VA-employment picture supported by colleagues and union statements [2] [1].
6. What reputable outlets and investigators say now
Military.com, ABC News and others have consistently described Pretti as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA and report no credible evidence of termination or disciplinary records publicly available; the VA has not issued confirmation of any employment problems and multiple outlet reviews found no disciplinary record reported by credible sources [11] [2] [1]. Fact-check analyses specifically labeled the firing story as fabricated content amplified by foreign spam networks [4] [5].
7. Remaining limits and why qualified language matters
Authorities had not released exhaustive employment files in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and some early pieces acknowledged that not all administrative records were publicly confirmed at first, which allowed misinformation to spread [10] [11]. Reporting to date, however, consistently places Pretti on the Minneapolis VA staff and identifies the firing claims as false or unsubstantiated [2] [4] [8].
8. Bottom line
The best available, corroborated reporting shows Alex Pretti was employed as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and was not shown by credible sources to have been fired for misconduct; the contrary narrative originated in fabricated articles and has been debunked by multiple fact-checkers and mainstream outlets [1] [4] [8].