Did Alex Pretti abuse an elderly male patient in 2025
Executive summary
There is no credible reporting or verified evidence that Alex Pretti abused an elderly male patient in 2025; prominent news organisations and fact-checkers have traced misconduct and firing allegations to a fake news site and labelled those claims false [1] [2] [3]. Independent coverage of Pretti since his death has focused on video of his killing, tributes from colleagues and family, and official reviews of the shooting—none of which substantiate an allegation of patient abuse in 2025 [4] [5] [6].
1. The claim’s origin and how it spread
The specific story that Pretti had been fired in October 2025 for misconduct, including alleged unwanted contact with patients, appears to have originated on a site called Buzzreport247 and then circulated on social media; fact-checkers and mainstream outlets traced and debunked that chain, finding the foundational report to be fabricated [1] [2] [3].
2. What reputable outlets actually report about Pretti’s employment and character
Major outlets that profiled Pretti after his death documented him as a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital and collected testimonials from co‑workers, former patients and family describing him as caring and committed to veterans’ care, with no contemporaneous investigative reporting corroborating any abuse allegation [4] [5] [7].
3. Official responses and investigations — unrelated to patient abuse claims
Federal and local authorities have been engaged with inquiries into the circumstances of Pretti’s death, including a Department of Justice civil‑rights probe and internal agency reviews of the shooting; these official actions concern the use of force by federal agents and not allegations that Pretti abused patients in 2025 [8] [6].
4. Why the false narrative gained traction
Politically charged context—Pro‑ and anti‑ICE protests, viral bystander video of Pretti’s killing, and rapid official statements that were later questioned—created a volatile information environment where anonymously sourced or sensational online reports could attach themselves to Pretti’s name and spread before verification, a pattern documented by multiple outlets and fact‑checkers [6] [2] [1].
5. What the fact‑checkers found and what they did not claim
Snopes, the BBC’s verification team and other debunkers explicitly identified the alleged firing and misconduct claims as false or unsubstantiated and traced them to fabricated sources; they did not, however, assert a complete audit of Pretti’s entire professional record—rather they demonstrated that the viral, specific claim about a 2025 firing and patient abuse lacks verified evidence [3] [2] [1].
6. Balanced conclusion and limits of available reporting
On the question posed—did Alex Pretti abuse an elderly male patient in 2025—the available, reputable reporting answers no: there is no verified evidence supporting that allegation, and the origin of the claim has been identified as fabricated [1] [2] [3]. That said, reporting reviewed here focuses on debunking the viral accusations and on investigations into his killing; none of the cited sources purport to be an exhaustive personnel audit of every workplace incident across his career, so absolute denial beyond the scope of published verification would exceed what these sources claim [1] [3] [6].