Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has donated $10,000 to a fundraiser supporting the family of Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by immigration agents in Minneapolis over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a spokesman for Ackman.
The GoFundMe page, described as set up to support Pretti's "loved ones," showed Ackman’s contribution and had raised in excess of $1 million as of Monday morning.
A spokesperson for Ackman’s investment firm, Pershing Square, declined a request for comment from Reuters.
Pretti is the second American to be killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis this month. The city has been the site of a large-scale deployment of armed and masked agents sent as part of a deportation operation ordered by President Trump, a Republican, that officials have described as unprecedented in its scope.
In an interview published on Sunday, President Trump told the Wall Street Journal his administration was "reviewing everything and will come out with a determination" regarding the shooting. The administration's officials publicly defended the operation even as video evidence emerged that officials said contradicted their account of events.
Ackman had earlier in January donated $10,000 to a separate GoFundMe created for Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who fatally shot Renee Good, the first Minneapolis shooting victim this month. At the time, Ackman wrote that he had intended to support Good’s family as well, "but it was already closed as it had achieved its $1.5 million fundraising objective."
"I was simply continuing my longstanding commitment to assisting those accused of crimes of providing for their defense," Ackman wrote earlier in January.
The sequence of donations highlights how high-profile giving has intersected with two separate fatal shootings involving federal immigration officers in Minneapolis within the same month. The GoFundMe for Pretti listed Ackman’s $10,000 gift alongside total contributions exceeding $1 million by Monday morning.
Key public statements around the incidents include the president’s pledge to "review[] everything" and administrative defenses of the shootings, even as released video footage raised questions about the official narrative. Meanwhile, Ackman’s firm declined to comment to Reuters on the latest donation.
Note: This report summarizes the facts regarding donations and official responses as they were reported and does not adjudicate the incidents themselves.