We Still Don’t Know Who Killed Alex Pretti on the Street in Minneapolis

It’s amazing. Saturday morning, January 24 — the morning that ICE / border patrol agents shot and murdered Alex Pretti — was 3 days ago – and today we still don’t know who shot him. We still don’t know which agent or agents fired the 10 bullets into his body at point-blank range.

Is it because there were so many agents surrounding Alex and pummeling him that investigators can’t figure out the individual identities?

No, authorities know who it is – they’re just not saying. ICE agents operate with impunity, under masks and with loaded machine guns.

Okay, so Greg Bovino is leaving with a few other agents and ol’ Tom Horman is coming in to quiet everybody down. You know Horman, he’s the gruff-speaking, bulldog looking guy from central casting — he reminds me of actor Broderick Crawford of the TV show Highway Patrol — who allegedly accepted a bag of $50,000 cash from FBI agents during a crime investigation — and got to keep it and who of course was not charged.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are getting ready to shut the government down unless funding for ICE is removed from the spending packages.

Well what do we know? What have authorities said about the trigger happy agent? (What happened to the idea that multiple agents actually fired into Pretti?)

Here’s a report from Newsweek:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed that the shooting was carried out by a U.S. Border Patrol agent, but it has not released the agent’s name or unit assignment.

According to DHS and Border Patrol leadership, the agent involved is an eight-year veteran of the agency. No further biographical details, disciplinary history or prior use of force incidents involving the agent have been disclosed publicly.

More from Newsweek:

Video Evidence and Disputed Accounts
Multiple bystander videos of the incident, which have been reviewed by news outlets, have raised questions about the official federal account of the shooting.

The videos appear to show Pretti filming federal agents with his phone, intervening after officers shoved a woman to the ground, and being pepper-sprayed and tackled by several agents before shots are fired. In the moments immediately preceding the shooting, Pretti appears to have his phone in hand, and no video clearly shows him brandishing a firearm at that time.

One video appears to show an agent removing a handgun from Pretti during the struggle, seconds before another agent opens fire. DHS has not addressed that interpretation directly.

Because of these discrepancies, state and local officials have said they do not accept federal authorities’ version of events at face value.

Investigations and Oversight
Minnesota officials have moved quickly to limit federal control over the investigation. The state attorney general’s office, the Hennepin County Attorney and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension have all asserted jurisdiction to examine whether any criminal charges are warranted against the agent involved.

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration and DHS to preserve all evidence related to the shooting, after the state alleged that federal officers had initially blocked local investigators from accessing the scene or physical evidence.

Under standard practice, DHS officer-involved shootings are typically investigated by the FBI alongside an internal DHS Office of Inspector General review. In this case, Minnesota officials have said they lacked confidence in federal oversight alone and would pursue an independent state-led inquiry.