Federal Agents Kill Again; Gunmen Still At Large

On Saturday in Minneapolis, federal agents surrounded 37-year-old Veterans Affairs intensive care nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti, who'd been filming them in the street with his phone camera as they conducted the federal government's violent invasion and occupation of the city. Video taken by others on the scene shows that agents pepper-sprayed and tackled Pretti as he attempted to assist a protester whom an agent had shoved to the ground without provocation. With at least three agents firmly holding Pretti down, a fourth drew his pistol and fired several shots at him from point-blank range. Within five seconds, agents had fired at least 10 shots, and Pretti had been executed in broad daylight, in the middle of a busy city street, by masked assailants who, as of this writing, have not been identified or apprehended.

Pretti, an American citizen, reportedly had been carrying a handgun on his person, which is legal in the state of Minnesota. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara told reporters that Pretti was a lawful and permitted gun owner. Video from the scene appears to show one agent disarming Pretti just before another shoots him, meaning that at the time of his summary execution, Pretti was unarmed and pinned to the ground by at least three agents of the federal government.

Within hours of the murder, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had lied about it, circulating extravagantly false claims that Pretti—whom DHS Secretary Kristi Noem accused of "domestic terrorism"—approached agents intending to "massacre" them and "wanted to do maximum damage," and characterizing the shooting as "defensive shots" by an agent "fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers." Multiple videos from the scene unmistakably show this to be false. Pretti did not in fact approach the agents at all; his hands were plainly visible as the agents approached and surrounded him. The only thing he was holding was his phone.