Was Alex pretti fired from va
Executive summary
There is no credible evidence that Alex Pretti was fired from the Department of Veterans Affairs; multiple fact‑checks say viral stories alleging he was dismissed for misconduct originated on a fabricated site and are false [1] [2]. Contemporary reporting from mainstream outlets and family statements consistently describe Pretti as an ICU nurse who worked at the Minneapolis VA at the time he was killed [3] [4] [5].
1. The claim being circulated — what it said and where it came from
A wave of social posts and a sensational article on a site called buzzreport247 claimed Pretti had been fired after an internal review that documented multiple incidents of inappropriate behavior and quoted a fictitious “Dr. Elena Vasquez” of “Lakeshore Medical Center”; fact‑checkers traced the allegation to that fabricated report and found no evidence for the supposed sources or incidents [1] [2]. Screenshots and snippets that purported to be payroll or personnel records also circulated on X and other platforms, but reporting shows those images were unverified and not corroborated by any official VA statement [6].
2. What reliable reporting says about Pretti’s employment status
Reporting by the BBC, The Guardian, People and others identifies Alex Pretti as an intensive‑care nurse who worked in the ICU at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and notes family confirmation of his nursing role; People and BBC cite his nursing license and family statements placing him at the VA at the time of his death [3] [4] [5]. Fact‑checking outlets including Hindustan Times and Times Now explicitly labeled the viral firing claim false and pointed to the fabricated origin on buzzreport247 and the nonexistent Dr. Vasquez — concluding that Pretti was not fired from the VA [1] [2].
3. Where ambiguity still exists and what the VA has (or hasn’t) said
Several articles note that social media produced alleged payroll screenshots and that early speculation about Pretti’s background spread quickly, but major outlets and family members provided confirmation of his VA employment rather than any record of termination, and no official VA release indicating he had been fired has been publicly reported in the available sources [6] [5]. Reporting also shows that other aspects of the incident remain under dispute — including differing accounts from DHS about the confrontation and video analyses that complicate the official narrative — but those disagreements concern the shooting itself, not a claim that Pretti had been terminated prior to the encounter [7] [8].
4. Why the false story spread and who benefited from it
The fabricated firing narrative fit a broader political incentive to discredit Pretti and shift attention from questions about use of force: partisan actors and viral accounts seized on an unverified smear to portray him as problematic, while fact‑checkers identified the likely originator as a bad‑faith website producing made‑up quotes [1] [2]. At the same time, some veterans and commentators responded to the killing by calling for audits or discipline of VA employees who join protests, signaling that separate debates about protest participation and federal employment were feeding the misinformation environment even as the firing claim itself remained unsupported [9].
5. Bottom line
Based on the reviewed reporting, the assertion that Alex Pretti was fired from the VA is false: credible news organizations and fact‑checkers report he worked as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA until his death, and the “fired for misconduct” story originated with a fabricated website and unverifiable social posts [1] [3] [5]. If official VA personnel records or a VA statement to the contrary are released later, that would alter the record; as of the sources reviewed, no such evidence exists [6].