ICE executes ICU nurse in broad daylight

"Boo hoo," one agent said after he and a gang of colleagues murdered 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who died trying to help a woman who was being assaulted.

ICE summarily executed a second U.S. citizen in broad daylight during protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday: 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti.

According to Minnesota police, Pretti had no criminal history beyond traffic violations, he worked with critically ill veterans, and he was legally carrying a gun in his belt while filming ICE agents with his cell phone. Video from the scene shows Pretti trying to help a woman who had been shoved by one of the agents, before six or seven agents pile on top of him, pepper spray and beat him while he’s restrained on the ground, remove the gun from his holster, and then shoot him several times in the chest until he’s dead. He never reaches for the gun or threatens the agents in any way; his hands are empty, he’s disarmed and lying helpless on the ground before they start spraying bullets into his body. They could have just arrested him, even though he hadn’t done a single illegal thing—but they killed him because they felt like it.

AP reports that after the shooting, “an angry crowd gathered and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them ‘cowards’ and telling them to go home. One officer responded mockingly as he walked away, telling them: ‘Boo hoo,’” much like another ICE officer shouted “fucking bitch” at Renée Good’s dead body after shooting her in the chest and head.

The feds immediately went into spin mode. DHS leaked a photo of the man’s gun to Fox News to make it clear that he had been armed, even though he never touched the gun, because Second Amendment supporters really only support the right to concealed carry for “resisting” a hypothetical Democratic-run government, not a Republican one. Stephen Miller called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and “would-be assassin” who tried to murder ICE agents, I suppose with the deadly cell phone he was holding.

Here’s the reality of who Pretti was, from those who knew him:

The Department of Homeland Security said it will be “investigating” Pretti’s murder instead of the FBI, to ensure a full and clean cover-up, because the FBI apparently still has a few employees left who care about actual justice. One FBI agent recently resigned after being instructed to drop the investigation into Renée Good’s murder and to investigate Good instead.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is demanding that ICE get its “thousands of violent, untrained officers” the fuck out of Minnesota before more people have to die. And Attorney General Pam Bondi is basically saying the killings will continue until Minnesota hands over its [checks notes] VOTER ROLLS, lest anyone forget what this government-sponsored terrorism is ultimately about. They’re punishing Minnesota for voting against Trump, threatening other cities and states that voted blue, and using violent government intimidation to suppress votes in the midterms.

But I’ve seen these video from several angles, and I think this incident will be even harder for Trump to spin than the Good videos. They can’t use the “deranged lesbian” angle and appeal to their supporters’ misogyny and bigotry here; this was an outdoorsy white dude with no criminal record who spent his life caring for sick veterans. The blatant extrajudicial killings are getting harder for them to defend, and the Minnesotans resisting ICE only appear to be multiplying in negative-45-degree wind chill.

Alex Pretti led a life of service and died heroically while protecting a woman from the American Gestapo. His death shouldn’t be in vain.