Seventeen days after immigration enforcement brokers murdered Renne Good, a younger mom of three, with out authorized justification, they murdered Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse at a Veterans Hospital, on a Minneapolis road, additionally with out authorized justification.
In keeping with witnesses and movies, protesters gathered early Saturday morning, January 25, on Nicollet Avenue, to protest actions of anti-immigration brokers. Some protesters blew whistles to warn residents of the brokers’ presence; others recorded the scene. Pretti on one video is seen chatting with officers and filming them along with his cellphone. He isn’t holding a gun. An officer strikes him again towards the sidewalk.
One other video exhibits Pretti nonetheless filming as one of many officers pushes an individual who seems to be a bystander or protester onto the sidewalk. As Pretti steps between them, the agent sprays pepper spray into Pretti’s face. Pretti, holding his cellphone in a single hand, holds up his different hand as much as shield in opposition to the spray. As he tries to work together with the one who was pushed onto the road, an agent tries to drag him away. This agent is now joined by at the least 4 different brokers who seize Pretti, who continues to be holding his cellphone, and try and pin him to the bottom.
Pretti is seen within the video wrestled to the bottom by at the least seven brokers. One of many brokers strikes Pretti repeatedly with a pepper spray canister whereas one other agent reaches down, removes a gun from Pretti’s waistband, and walks away whereas holding the weapon. On the similar time, whereas the brokers are holding Pretti down, an agent (it seems to be the identical agent who pepper sprayed Pretti initially) unholsters his gun and factors it at Pretti’s again at shut vary. Whereas Pretti is on his knees and restrained, the agent who drew his gun seems to fireside one shot at Pretti at shut vary and instantly fires three further pictures. A number of brokers transfer away from Pretti, who has collapsed. One other agent unholsters his gun and fires at Pretti. Collectively, these brokers hearth six extra pictures at Pretti whereas he lies immobile on the bottom.
At the least 10 pictures had been fired into Pretti. He lawfully possessed the gun the brokers faraway from his waist band.
Senior Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino advised CNN on Sunday that the brokers are “victims” on this tragedy. “The victims are the Border Patrol agents,” Bovino stated. “The suspect put himself in that situation.”
Because the brokers wore masks, their identities presently are unknown. In response to a lawsuit filed by Minnesota Lawyer Common Keith Ellison, a federal decide ordered the Division of Homeland Safety and different federal companies to not destroy proof associated to Pretti’s killing. A listening to is scheduled for Monday.
The savagery of U.S. federal immigration officers is harking back to Hitler’s Storm Troopers, or Brownshirts. They had been the Nazi Celebration’s paramilitary wing, named for his or her distinctive brown uniforms. They had been a large pressure of offended and disillusioned anti-Semites. They went on wild rampages, murdered individuals, stormed into houses, dragged individuals out, beat them, smashed retailer home windows, assaulted and dispersed peaceable protesters.
Hitler’s Storm Troopers have been likened to Trump’s para-military anti-immigration thugs. They’re attired in full army regalia, put on masks, are loaded with weapons and grenades, and interact in violence. They resist being filmed, disrupt peaceable demonstrations, and routinely detain and arrest protesters and observers randomly. They’re unaccountable for his or her conduct, and certainly, are hailed as heroes.
The homicide of Alex Pretti is symbolic of a horror that would occur to anyone.
