CNN host puts Greg Bovino on the spot over why 'an unarmed man' was shot by agents
Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino (bottom left) appears on CNN, Jan. 25, 2026. (Screengrab / CNN)

Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino refused to answer CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday after being pressed about a key detail in Saturday’s deadly federal immigration shooting.

Saturday morning, 37-year-old Minnesota resident Alex Pretti was beaten and fatally shot by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis. Pretti was reportedly conceal carrying a firearm during the incident, which was captured on video and appears to show a federal immigration officer removing Pretti’s firearm before he was shot.

“When the agent took the gun away, that happened before Pretti was shot,” Bash said. “Why was an unarmed man shot multiple times by law enforcement, by your Border Patrol agents?”

Bovino, who on Saturday had already concluded, without evidence, that Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,” disputed Bash’s assertion that Pretti was disarmed.

“Dana, you don't know he was unarmed, I don't know he was unarmed, that's freeze-frame adjudication of a crime scene via a photo,” Bovino said.

“That's why we have investigators, that's why we have an investigation that is going to answer these questions: how many shots were fired, who fired shots, where were the guns located? All those questions are going to be answered.”

Bash didn’t let up, however, and directed Bovino’s attention to the video that appears to show Pretti being disarmed by a federal immigration officer.

“We're not going to adjudicate that here on TV in one freeze frame!” Bovino fired back.

Bash continued, first by correcting Bovino that a video was “not a freeze frame,” and second by asking that he watch the video in question again.

“We don't know that agent was taking any gun away!” Bovino insisted. “That could have been the agent's because we don't know that! The facts are going to come to light.”