Videos show feds had beaten Alex Pretti and taken the gun for which he had a lawful permit, meaning he was unarmed when they executed him in a hail of gunfire

Alex Pretti holds a cell phone, not a gun, as agent confronts him. (NY Times)

A security analyst appearing on MS Now to discuss the fatal shooting yesterday of a Minneapolis resident at the hands of federal agents said he now fears for his own life because of what happened to 37-year-old victim Alex Pretti. Rob D'Amico said he could be in danger because, as a former FBI agent, he routinely carries a  concealed weapon, much as Pretti was doing yesterday when roughly a half dozen agents swarmed him, pummeled him to the ground, took his weapon, and then fired roughly 10 shots into him.

D'Amico could see himself being in a similar situation someday, according to a report at Raw Story under the headline "DHS hammered by expert for 'troubling beyond belief' false statement about latest killing." David McAfee writes:

The latest shooting and killing of an American citizen by federal immigration authorities was backed up by an "incorrect" statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to an expert.

What is the most troubling part of the DHS statement? It suggested Pretti was armed and threatening federal agents -- even though video analysis indicates Pretti's weapon (for which he had a lawful permit) never left his holster, until one of the feds reached in and grabbed it, then hurriedly left the scene as Pretti was on his knees being beaten. In other words, Pretti was unarmed as feds beat him until he was motionless on his back -- before they essentially executed him with gunfire. All because of an incident that started because an agent noticed Pretti quietly out of the way appearing to take photographs with a cell phone. Pretti appeared to be trying to assist a woman agents had pushed to the ground, with both of them being doused with chemical spray -- and Pretti ultimately being beaten and shot. 

D'Amico watched the scene on video with a sense of deepening alarm, as McAfee reports:

        D'Amico said he is now fearing for his own life.

"What kind of scares me is I carry concealed all the time, retired FBI. If I happen to be there, I'm in the same situation. I'm armed. I'm trying to help someone. And then all of a sudden you get in a scuffle and your weapon is there. But at no time. And from the first video, when he's on all fours, when the subject's on all fours, I didn't see a gun in his hands either. Which meant at that point he still hadn't gone for the gun," he said.

He went on to specifically note how the false information causes harm.

"So the biggest thing is the statement is incorrect that they released. And that's what we saw on the last one, which is we talked about earlier. If you can't believe the statements that are being put out, it is just very troubling. And that's why you don't release statements until you have a somewhat investigation," he then added. "You have people go through it, but they're just quick to come out and say something to the narrative to get people on the defensive that he came at them with a weapon. This video, even though it cuts off at the end, shows that that's not, in fact, what happened. And it's troubling. It is troubling beyond belief."

In short, D'Amico says, the Trumpers who oversee DHS issued a statement before they knew what they are talking about.  So, what did actually happen? Like many of you I watched probably 8-10 videos that appeared on social media. All of them were taken under chaotic circumstances, I didn't find one that appeared to give a definitive account of the incident. But the best summation of what I saw -- of what the video evidence seems to show -- comes from Peter Birkenhead, who writes at Salon and numerous other publications, along with writing the " One for All, All for One" newsletter at Substack. Here is Birkenhead's succinct take, and in my view, it is absolute truth:

I’ve watched the videos several times now and it’s clear that agents initiated the altercation, approaching Alex Pretti as he was taking video with his phone. They maced him, shoved him, roughed him up and forced him to the ground, where one of them removed a gun from his waistband and walked away, at which point other agents shot him multiple times while he was prone and unarmed. He was murdered.

How does the DHS statement stack up to the truth? Not well, On Facebook, Birkenhead  correctly calls it "absolute bullshit." You can read the DHS statement at the following link. The Guardian was not buying the official account:

Video recorded by witnesses to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday shows that the 37-year-old registered nurse was holding a phone, not a gun, when he was tackled and shot, directly contradicting the claims of senior Trump administration officials that he threatened to “massacre” officers.

37-year-old US citizen shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis

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In the aftermath of the killing, which was recorded by multiple witnesses, the Department of Homeland Security released an image of a handgun, which Donald Trump referred to as “the gunman’s gun” in a social media post. Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary, said at a briefing that Pretti had “approached US border patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun”, though she later declined to say whether or not Pretti pulled the gun out.

Greg Bovino, a senior border patrol commander who was reprimanded by a federal judge last year for lying, also told reporters that Pretti had approached border patrol agents with the same gun.

Video provided to the Guardian by a Minneapolis resident who drove past the scene at 8:58 a.m. local time, as a group of observers recorded video on their phones of federal officers on Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis, showed Pretti standing on the street holding up his phone as one officer reached out and shoved him back. Pretti retreated, but appeared to continue recording the officer as he did so.