Federal Agents Who Killed Alex Pretti Placed On Leave
Federal Agents Who Killed Alex Pretti Placed On Leave, Sources Say Pretti Was Attacked By Feds Prior To Killing
As the Trump administration continues to grapple with the fallout from its unhinged and easily debunked smear campaign against Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by federal agents in Minnesota, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson has confirmed that the two federal agents who shot and killed the 37-year-old have been placed on administrative leave. This will likely offer little comfort to Pretti’s family and loved ones, and those in the U.S. and abroad who believe those agents should be facing murder charges.
According to The Washington Post, the announcement that the agents—who still haven’t been identified by name publicly—were placed on leave came one day after the Department of Homeland Security provided the first official timeline of the shooting in a statement sent to some members of Congress (not that anyone should take at face value an account provided by the very department that led the charge in smearing Pretti as an armed “domestic terrorist” who attacked and tried to kill agents.)
From the Post:
The document, which was based on preliminary review, made no mention of Pretti brandishing a weapon, contradicting Trump administration comments in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, when senior officials described Pretti as a direct threat to federal agents and officers.
The Trump administration has begun to back away from some of its inflammatory rhetoric about the shooting and replaced Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol commander then overseeing the Minneapolis operation, with border czar Tom Homan, to lead the massive immigration enforcement operation underway in the city.
“I think the whole thing is terrible,” President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday when asked about events in Minnesota over the past week and Pretti’s killing. “I don’t like the fact that he was carrying a gun that was fully loaded. … Bottom line, it was terrible.”
No—the actual “bottom line” is that agents shot and killed a man who posed no threat to them, and was only trying to protect a woman whom agents shoved to the ground and pepper-sprayed, despite the fact that she also didn’t appear to pose a threat. The “bottom line” is that top officials in Trump’s administration immediately began lying about what Pretti did and didn’t do, and that the only reason they’re all walking it back now is that video footage of the shooting proved without a shred of doubt that the federal government is full of fascist propagandists—not that it needed further proving. The “bottom line” is that Trump and his subordinates are so desperate to use Pretti’s lawfully-carried firearm, which video footage shows he never touched, as a reason to blame him for his own death that they are willing to do a complete 180 on everything right-wingers have said about Second Amendment protections up until now.
Meanwhile, CNN reports that the incident with federal agents that killed Pretti might not have been his first rodeo.
Sources reportedly told the news outlet that federal immigration officers have been collecting personal information about protesters in Minneapolis, and that they had documented details about a previous incident in which Pretti was harmed by federal agents.
From CNN:
It is unclear how Pretti first came to the attention of federal authorities, but sources told CNN that about a week before his death, he suffered a broken rib when a group of federal officers tackled him while he was protesting their attempt to detain other individuals.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that “DHS law enforcement has no record of this incident.”
A memo sent earlier this month to agents temporarily assigned to the city asked them to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form,” according to correspondence reviewed by CNN.
Pretti’s previous encounter is another reflection of the aggressive approach federal agents are taking with observers and protesters—a philosophy underscored by the request for agents to collect information about protesters whose activities are broadly protected by the First Amendment.
It should surprise absolutely no one if it turns out to be true that Pretti had been attacked by violent immigration agents a week before other agents took his life. They aren’t making communities safer. They aren’t targeting “the worst of the worst.” They are the real criminal threat that the Trump administration claims they’re here to save America from.
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