The Federal Government Is Gaslighting the Public About ICE Killing Alex Pretti

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Federal agents shot and killed a Minneapolis ICU nurse Saturday morning. By early afternoon, the White House had called him a terrorist. Within minutes, multiple videos surfaced that directly contradict the official account.

That contradiction is an enormous story unto itself.

On Jan. 24, federal law enforcement agents shot and killed Alex Pretti during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. In the hours that followed, the Trump administration moved aggressively to frame the killing as a narrowly averted attack on law enforcement.

President Donald Trump, his deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino described Pretti as a would-be assassin,  a “domestic terrorist,” and someone intent on causing “maximum damage” and “massacring” federal agents with a handgun.

The Department of Homeland Security said Pretti approached agents armed, violently resisted disarmament, and forced officers to fire in self-defense.

That story collapses when measured against the footage.

Video taken moments before the shooting shows Pretti filming agents with his phone as they approach. His right hand holds the device. His left hand is raised, palm visible, as he backs away. An agent forcefully shoves him backward as he continues retreating. There is no visible weapon in his hands. There is no forward movement toward agents. Nothing in the video resembles an imminent attack.

As the encounter escalates, multiple agents struggle with Pretti on the ground. One agent approaches with empty hands and reaches around Pretti’s waist. Moments later, he retreats — holding the gun.

The handgun matches the firearm later posted by DHS, including the red-dot sight. That agent’s back is turned when the first shot is fired.

If the gun was removed before the first shot, the justification collapses.

Two agents are then seen firing their weapons. The agent wearing a black beanie fires first. A second agent does not draw his gun until after the initial shots.

Then comes a pause.

Pretti collapses onto the pavement and appears motionless. Agents step back.

More shots follow.

Audio from the video captures roughly 10 shots in total. At least five are fired after the pause, when Pretti is already on the ground and no longer moving. In the available footage, only two agents are ever seen with weapons drawn.

These are not split-second decisions unfolding in a blur. The pause matters. It separates a claim of imminent threat from something else entirely.

In an early evening press conference, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem described the footage above. “An individual approached officers with a 9-millimeter semi automatic handgun. Officers attempted to disarm this individual but the armed suspect reacted violently,” she said. “Fearing for his life and the lives of his fellow officers around him, and agent fired defensive shots.”

It’s difficult to watch the footage above and see Pretti creating fear in the half dozen ICE agents surrounding him, or the nearly dozen shots fired at Pretti being defensive,  yet that’s exactly what Noem claimed.

DHS’s own use-of-force policy is explicit. ICE and CBP agents may use deadly force only when they have a reasonable belief that a subject poses an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury. A man lying motionless on the pavement does not meet that standard. A man whose weapon appears to have already been removed does not meet that standard.

Rather than grappling with what the video shows, the administration has escalated its rhetoric.

Miller accused Democratic officials of inciting insurrection. Bovino said Pretti intended to massacre agents. Trump suggested the killing was being used to cover up massive fraud in Minnesota. The official Democratic Party account was accused of siding with terrorists for condemning the shooting.

This is gaslighting.

The government is not offering a competing interpretation of ambiguous facts. It is advancing claims that directly contradict the visual record and asking the public to disbelieve what it can plainly see.

Law enforcement work is dangerous. Agents have every right to defend themselves when their lives are genuinely at risk. But those rights do not include inventing facts after the fact — or expecting the public to ignore the evidence.

The footage exists. The sequence is visible. A man was backing away with a phone in his hand. A gun appears to have been taken from him. He was on the ground.

The shots kept coming.

If federal officials believe the shooting was justified, they should explain how their account aligns with what the video shows. If they cannot, they should stop pretending the problem is public misunderstanding rather than their own collapsing narrative.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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