LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is turning up the heat on Trump administration officials after federal agents killed a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis over the weekend.

Paul, who is chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, called for an investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, in a social media post Tuesday.

Agents shot Pretti multiple times on Saturday, Jan. 24, after they wrestled him to the ground when he inserted himself between a woman who was pushed down and the agent who shoved her. In a report to Congress Tuesday, Customs and Border Protection said two agents fired shots: one from Border Patrol and one from CBP.

The Kentucky senator wrote expressing dismay at comments about Pretti, who was armed but did not appear to pull his firearm during the altercation, made by top Trump administration officials like Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

Both of those officials suggested Pretti was a “domestic terrorist.”

“Local police routinely, put officers involved in deadly shootings on administrative leave until an independent investigation is concluded,” Paul wrote on social media. “That should happen immediately. I can’t recall ever hearing a police chief immediately describing the victim as a ‘domestic terrorist’ or a ‘would-be assassin.’

“For calm to be restored, an independent investigation is the least that should be done.”

Pretti’s death was the second fatal shooting in Minneapolis by federal agents this month.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross shot Renee Good, 37, in the head while she was driving on Jan. 7. Federal officials claimed the officer feared for his life and that Good was a “domestic terrorist” who was trying to ram Ross with her vehicle; video analysis of the shooting shows no indication Ross was run over.

Both the Good and Pretti killings elicited significant public pushback and protest, and state and local leaders have rejected federal officials’ narratives.

The backlash to federal responses to Pretti’s killing has reportedly caused consternation in the White House. The fact that Pretti was armed, used as a justification for the shooting by figures like Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel, has rallied another constituency against the federal government.

President Donald Trump has distanced himself from some comments made by members of his administration, including Miller’s claim that Pretti was an “assassin,” according to the New York Times.

But, Trump also went on to say, “you can’t have guns,” and “you can’t walk in with guns.”

Pretti had a permit to legally possess his firearm and did not have a criminal record.

In Kentucky, legislators aligned with Paul, such as staunch gun rights advocate Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Dry Ridge, have denounced the messaging around the killing.

“Your federal government is trying to convince you that the mere state of being armed — which is your God-given, constitutionally protected right — is a “threat to law enforcement,” Maddox wrote Sunday. “Subverting the 2nd Amendment was not OK under Biden, and it’s not OK now.”

Paul has also indicated he will use his gavel as committee chair to hold federal agencies to account.

On Monday, he requested testimony from the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In those letters, Paul emphasized that Congress provided the Department of Homeland Security, the cabinet those agencies are under, with “an exceptional amount of funding.”

“Congress has an obligation to conduct oversight of those tax dollars and ensure the funding is used to accomplish the mission, provide proper support for our law enforcement, and, most importantly, protect the American people,” Paul wrote in the letter.

In other posts to social media, Paul has expressed concern with the amount of funds allocated to the Department of Homeland Security. With the passage of the recent “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Trump’s marquee budget bill, funding for ICE essentially tripled, moving from roughly $8 billion to $29 billion.

Paul voted against the bill citing how it would add to the national debt.

“DHS funding should be viewed in the context of our current $2 trillion deficit. The 2026 spending bill gives DHS $92 billion for this year. Last year Congress gave DHS an additional $165 billion in advance funding. So even if DHS appropriations were eliminated this year, DHS would still be funded at roughly 180% of their regular level,” Paul wrote on X.

The contrast between federal law enforcement officials and local ones is not new for Paul.

He made similar comments to popular sports commentator Stephen A. Smith in an interview last week. Paul told Smith that “the people best trained to do law enforcement are local people,” but also chided local governments for acting as “sanctuary cities” for undocumented immigrants, ignoring federal immigration law.

Paul has stood out in the first year of the Trump administration for his candid criticisms of the Trump administration. Paul has been skeptical of the Trump administration’s interventions in foreign affairs, its spending habits, its trade policy and its handling of the release of files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Those are concerns he shares with Rep. Thomas Massie; Trump has responded in kind with jabs at them both and the full backing of a GOP primary challenger for Massie this year.

The senator has not closed the door on a run for president in 2028, when Trump will be termed out. He ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination to White House in 2016.

Paul’s father, famous libertarian Ron Paul, recently criticized the administration’s handling of the shooting as well, saying “the Trump administration lied so blatantly” about it.

_____

©2026 Lexington Herald-Leader. Visit at kentucky.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.