‘Absolutely shameful’: Business and tech leaders react to the latest fatal ICE shooting

Microsoft’s chief scientific officer posted a screenshot of a statement from Alex Pretti’s parents with the caption “Anguish and pursuit of truth” on X on Sunday.

Horvitz also wrote on X, “Values, service, and character,” in response to a video posted by CBS News of Pretti reading a final salute to a veteran.

Former Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun replied “Murderers” to footage of the shooting circulating on Saturday. He has since reposted anti-ICE tweets and pushed back against users who criticize his stance.

LeCun has regularly shared posts critical of the Trump administration on social media.

Paul Graham, cofounder of startup accelerator Y Combinator, wrote in a post on X on Saturday: “If someone had predicted before the last election that if Trump won, federal officers would be shooting Americans in the streets, he’d have been dismissed as an alarmist.”

Anthropic cofounder Chris Olah wrote on X that he typically doesn’t comment on politics, but recent events “shock the conscience.”

“My deep loyalty is to the principles of classical liberal democracy: freedom of speech, the rule of law, the dignity of the human person. I immigrated to the United States — and eventually cofounded Anthropic here — believing it was a pillar of these principles,” he wrote, adding: “I feel very sad today.”

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce distributed a letter on Sunday signed by more than 60 CEOs of Minnesota-based companies, including professional sports teams.

Among the signatories were Target CEO Michael Fiddelke, 3M CEO William Brown, Allianz Life Insurance Company CEO Jasmine Jirele, Cargill CEO Brian Sikes, General Mills CEO Jeff Harmening, and UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley, among many others.

The letter called for an “immediate de-escalation of tensions” and for state, local, and federal officials to “work together to find real solutions.”

“In this difficult moment for our community, we call for peace and focused cooperation among local, state, and federal leaders to achieve a swift and durable solution that enables families, businesses, our employees, and communities across Minnesota to resume our work to build a bright and prosperous future,” the letter says.

The shooting divided leaders even within the same VC firm. Khosla Ventures’ Keith Rabois posted on X “no law enforcement has shot an innocent person. illegals are committing violent crimes everyday.” Rabois is a self-proclaimed contrarian whose political opinions have courted controversy in recent years.

Two colleagues — Ethan Choi and Vinod Khosla — disagreed with Rabois on X. Khosla described the video of Pretti’s death as “macho ICE vigilantes running amuck empowered by a conscious-less administration.”

Choi said Rabois’ post did not represent the VC firm’s view. “What happened in Minnesota is plain wrong. Don’t know how you could really see it differently. Sad to see a person’s life taken unnecessarily,” Choi wrote.

The hedge-fund billionaire, who supported Trump in the 2024 election, called for calm in an X post on Saturday. Ackman said that the United States had reached a point where “there are only two sides to every issue and every incident.”

“Individuals are ‘convicted’ of serious crimes in the headlines, by politicians appealing to their base, and ultimately in the minds of the public, or they are exonerated, before all of the facts are in and a detailed investigation has been completed,” he wrote. “This is not good for America.”

Two hours later, in another post on X, Ackman laid the blame on Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz.

“It is almost as if the governor of Minnesota called for protesters to intervene in ICE enforcements in an incendiary manner,” he said, tagging Walz. “Inciting the people to rise up against law enforcement is guaranteed to end badly, and now we have seen the tragic consequences.”

Like Ackman, billionaire LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman is perpetually online, posting frequently on social media. The Democratic donor has been largely quiet this weekend, though he has reposted comments from other people, including one that called ICE “out of control.”

In another post that Hoffman amplified, an X user called out “chronically online tech leaders” for suddenly falling quiet. Another X user called on business and tech leaders to use their platform to stand up to the Trump administration and its immigration enforcement tactics, to which Hoffman replied, “It’s time for all Americans to do so.”

James Dyett, the head of global business at OpenAI, called on leaders in the tech and business communities to use their influence to criticize the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

“There is far more outrage from tech leaders over a wealth tax than masked ICE agents terrorizing communities and executing civilians in the streets,” Dyer wrote on X. “Tells you what you need to know about the values of our industry.”

Jeff Dean, Google DeepMind’s chief scientist, wrote in response to a video of the shooting circulating on X: “This is absolutely shameful.”

“Agents of a federal agency unnecessarily escalating, and then executing a defenseless citizen whose offense appears to be using his cellphone camera,” he wrote. “Every person, regardless of political affiliation, should be denouncing this.”

Minneapolis police confirmed that Alex Pretti, who was filming federal agents when they wrestled him to the ground, was legally carrying a gun.

Border Patrol officials said Pretti had threatened them with the gun, but multiple videos of the incident show that agents had already disarmed and subdued Pretti when he was shot.

Jason Calacanis, a prominent investor and entrepreneur who is these days perhaps most known as one of the hosts of the popular “All-In” podcast, blamed the country’s political leaders in a post on X on Sunday.

“Once again, I will remind everyone that our leaders are failing us,” he wrote. “True leadership would be to calm this situation down by telling these non-peaceful protesters to stay home while recalling these inadequately-trained agents.”

He later posted that “all of this violence” could be avoided by fining businesses that hire immigrants who are not in the country legally.

Cristina Cordova, the chief operating officer at Linear, a product management software company, called the incident “indefensible” in a post on X.

“The victim’s legally owned handgun was removed from the scene, and then ICE agents shot him multiple times. It’s far from law enforcement — it’s just murder,” she wrote.

“Those who defend this don’t care about law or order. It’s about money, power, and protecting an executive branch that’s already been bought and paid for.”

David Marcus, cofounder and CEO of crypto payments company Lightspark, wrote on X in response to the incident: “The number of people who can hold two thoughts at the same time is dwindling at a dangerous rate.”

“It’s not because these anti-ICE protests are mostly inorganic and designed to generate this chaos, or that protesters show up with loaded guns that you can’t also be totally appalled by citizens being shot dead on our streets,” added Marcus, who is also a former president of PayPal.

“Let’s just remember we’re all Americans for a second.”

Kath Korevec, the director of product at Google Labs, has called on X users to support their local immigration organizations.

“I can’t go to Minneapolis. And it’s only a matter of time before they show up in force here in the Bay Area. So here’s what I’m doing to help my neighbors prepare,” Korevec wrote in a post on X on Sunday.

She said in the post that she is researching, donating, and offering help to organizations that support immigrants.

Korevec said that she is calling her “congressmen and women and asking them not to approve ICE funding without major reform to how the organization is run.”

“And I’m paying attention. Not looking away, even when it’s hard,” she added. “If you’re able to do any of this where you live, now is the time.”