Did Alex Pretti quit his nursing job?
Executive summary
No — the reporting available shows Alex Pretti was employed as a registered intensive care unit nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System at the time of his death and was not fired from that position, contrary to viral social-media claims that he had been terminated for misconduct [1] [2] [3]. Multiple fact-checks and news organizations have debunked the specific stories alleging a firing and traced the claims to fabricated or unverified sources [4] [2] [5].
1. What the viral claim says and how it spread
After the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents, posts on social platforms claimed he had been fired from his nursing job for inappropriate behavior, citing a non-existent Lakeshore Medical Centre and a purported Dr. Elena Vasquez as sources; those specific allegations circulated widely and were amplified by partisan accounts and fringe outlets [2] [5] [6]. Social media rumors often coalesce quickly around high-profile deaths, and in Pretti’s case these narratives re-purposed invented details to undermine his reputation even as national outrage focused on the circumstances of his shooting [6] [5].
2. What mainstream reporting and fact‑checks establish
Contemporary reporting from established outlets and fact-checkers consistently identifies Pretti as a registered ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and documents colleagues’ and family members’ tributes to his work and character, not a termination [1] [7] [3]. Dedicated debunking pieces found no evidence that Pretti had worked at the purported Lakeshore Medical Centre or that the named doctor existed, and said the firing claims were false [4] [2] [5]. News outlets covering the case — including the BBC, The Guardian and U.S. outlets — describe his employment at the VA and colleagues’ shock at his death rather than any formal dismissal [1] [7] [8].
3. Corroborating detail: employment history and public record
Profiles and reporting tracing Pretti’s professional path note he trained at the University of Minnesota and worked in the VA ICU, with colleagues and union leaders identifying him as a VA employee and union member; these accounts reinforce that he was an active VA nurse rather than someone who had been sacked [3] [9] [7]. Media stories that did report footage of Pretti in confrontations with federal agents cite those incidents as part of the public record and investigative narrative, but none of the reliable reporting supplies documentation of a firing or resignation from the VA [10] [11].
4. Motives, misinformation dynamics and alternative viewpoints
Misinformation after traumatic events often has clear incentives: to smear the victim, muddy public sympathy, or shift blame away from institutional actors; in this case fabricated employment claims functioned to delegitimize Pretti amid national debate over federal enforcement actions [2] [5]. Some outlets relayed footage and details that complicate the story of the shooting itself — including video of an earlier confrontation with agents — but those are distinct from the employment‑status claims and do not substantiate termination allegations [10] [11]. Reporting organizations that debunked the firing story presented documentation and source checks; no reputable outlet citing primary records corroborated the claim that Pretti had been fired [4] [2].
5. Remaining limitations and the bottom line
Public reporting compiled by mainstream outlets and fact‑checkers shows no evidence that Alex Pretti quit or was fired from his ICU nursing role at the Minneapolis VA and instead documents him as an active VA nurse at the time of his killing [1] [2] [7]. This assessment is based on available media reporting and fact checks; if internal VA personnel records or an authoritative VA statement proving otherwise were to surface, that could change the record, but no such documentation has been published in the reporting reviewed here [4] [3].