Was Alex pretti fired from his job
Executive summary
1. Verdict up front: He was not fired. Multiple fact-checks and reporting identify the viral story claiming Alex Pretti was terminated from an ICU nurse role as fabricated; Pretti is reported to have worked at the Minneapolis VA and there is no credible evidence he was fired for misconduct [1] [2] [3]. The allegation appears to trace back to a bogus article on a satirical or fabricated site and to social posts that recycled that false report [3].
2. Where the false story came from and how it spread
The narrative that Pretti was dismissed for alleged “inappropriate behaviour” cited a supposed former employer and a Dr. Elena Vasquez at a non-existent Lakeshore Medical Center; fact-checkers found no record of Pretti ever being employed at that named facility and no evidence a Dr. Vasquez is affiliated with it, concluding the article was fabricated and then amplified on social media [1] [3]. Times Now and IBTimes UK both trace the claim to a fabricated BuzzReport247 piece and note that screenshots and reposts circulated rapidly after Pretti’s death, feeding a broader smear campaign amid a fraught public debate over the fatal federal-agent shooting [3] [2].
3. What credible sources actually report about Pretti’s employment
Several outlets reporting on Pretti’s background — including fact-checkers and mainstream news coverage — identify him with the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and quote family statements that describe him as an ICU nurse and as someone committed to helping veterans and his community [1] [2] [4]. While one Times Now summary notes that some social posts included alleged payroll screenshots and that, early in the aftermath, authorities had not confirmed employment details, multiple independent debunks concluded the specific firing allegation was without evidence [5] [3].
4. Motives, context and competing narratives
The false firing claim surfaced in a highly politicized environment: federal agents under a controversial deployment in Minneapolis had already drawn national scrutiny after two fatal shootings, and partisan actors and online networks had incentives to either discredit victims or to defend agents [6] [7]. Labor and union voices pushed back against attempts to smear Pretti; the American Federation of Government Employees publicly demanded accountability for what it described as a campaign to frame a slain union member as a domestic terrorist, implicitly pointing to an agenda to delegitimize criticism of federal tactics [8]. At the same time, DHS statements about the fatal encounter — including claims that Pretti approached agents with a firearm — have been central to official narratives and remain contested in public discourse [5].
5. What can’t be claimed from the record provided
Available reporting clearly discredits the fabricated Lakeshore Medical Center account and the claim Pretti was fired for misconduct, but some early reports flagged that not every detail about Pretti’s full employment history had been independently verified by authorities at the moment social posts proliferated [5]. The sources here do not provide a single, formal HR record from the Minneapolis VA in the collected items; instead, mainstream fact-checks and family statements rebut the firing allegation and identify the anonymous report as fabricated [1] [2] [3]. Therefore, while the claim he was fired is demonstrably false as to its cited evidence and provenance, reporters did not — in these pieces — publish a personnel file to close every possible administrative question.
6. Bottom line and why it matters
Reporting sourced by fact-checkers shows the story that Alex Pretti was fired was manufactured and spread in the wake of his killing, likely to shape public perception of the victim and the incident [1] [3]. That smear effort became part of the larger information battle surrounding the Minneapolis deployments and has provoked union and political pushback demanding accountability for both the shooting and the “smearing” of a slain government employee [8] [6]. Readers should treat viral claims about victims’ pasts with skepticism and rely on corroborated reporting rather than single, anonymous web posts that are prone to fabrication [3] [2].