What the actual fuck are we doing? I am so furious that I could, and have been, crying. While I was down here yesterday morning, taking pictures of flowers and making sourdough bread that would never rise, ICE agents were murdering 37 year old Alex Pretti in the middle of the street in Minneapolis. Because he approached the officers brandishing a gun and "wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement," according to Greg Bovino.
Or, you know, he had his phone in his hand and was recording the officers actively shove a woman to the ground and then put himself between the officers and the woman and attempted to help her. Same thing, right? I've seen the video. Alex Pretti never touched his gun (which he was carrying legally). He never had the chance, because he was pepper-sprayed, tackled to the ground by seven immigration enforcement agents, pistol-whipped, and disarmed. He was disarmed before they shot him at least ten times on the ground, and then did fuck all to administer aid.
According to an affidavit filed in Federal Court last night, a physician saw the altercation from their apartment window, and went outside to render aid. The affidavit reads in part:
7. At first, the ICE agents wouldn't let me through. They repeatedly asked me for my physician's license, which I obviously didn't have. But none of the ICE agents who were near the victim were performing CPR, and I could tell that the victim was in critical condition. I insisted that the agents let me assess him. Normally, I would not have been so persistent, but as a physician, I felt a professional and moral obligation to help this man, especially since none of the agents were helping him.
8. Finally, one agent agreed to let me assess the victim. He patted me down to "make sure I didn't have a weapon" and then let me approach the victim.
9. As I approached, I saw that the victim was lying on his side and was surrounded by several ICE agents. I was confused as to why the victim was on his side, because that is not standard practice for when a victim has been shot. Checking for a pulse and administering CPR is standard practice. Instead of doing either of those things, the ICE agents appeared to be counting his bullet wounds.
10. I asked the ICE agents if the victim had a pulse, and they said they did not know. I then asked the agents to make space so I could assess the victim.
11. The victim had at least three bullet wounds in his back. I asked the ICE agents to turn the victim from his side to his back. From that position, I saw an additional gunshot wound on the victim's upper left chest and another possible gunshot wound on his neck.
12. I checked for a pulse, but I did not feel one. I immediately began CPR. Shortly after I started compressions, EMS personnel arrived and took over.
Once again, there is video. So much video from so many angles, disproving everything that Gregory Bonvino and Kristi Noem and the president and all of the rest of them are saying. Once again, Federal law enforcement is blocking the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) from carrying out an investigation. According to several reports, the federal agents on the scene took the phones of several witnesses, and took several others into custody. That's why the State of Minnesota had to file a complaint against the Department of Homeland Security in Federal Court last night.
This incident, you'd think, would make the 2nd Amendment crowd stand up and take notice. I mean, Mr. Pretti was legally carrying his weapon. He neither brandished nor discharged it. So does the NRA have anything to say about this American citizen's right to bear arms being infringed? Here's their statement from last night:
For months, radical progressive politicians like Tim Walz have incited violence against law enforcement officers who are simply trying to do their jobs. Unsurprisingly, these calls to dangerously interject oneself into legitimate law-enforcement activities have ended in violence, tragically resulting in injuries and fatalities.
As there is with any officer-involved shooting, there will be a robust and comprehensive investigation that takes place to determine if the use of force was justified. As we await these facts and gain a clearer understanding, we urge the political voices to lower the temperature to ensure their constituents and law enforcement officers stay safe.
And here is where I start feeling completely unhinged. There's not going to be a "robust and comprehensive investigation." Our government is going to continue to lie to us and assume that we'll believe what they're telling us over what we're seeing with our very eyes. They're going to continue kidnapping people off the streets in the name of "immigration enforcement" and shooting people who disagree with them. They've gotten away with it so far, so why wouldn't they continue?
It's hard this morning not to feel completely hopeless. But then, that's what they want. They want us terrified and panicked and hopeless, so we all keep going to work and keeping our heads down and feeding the machine that weaponizes incompetence and hate against us. What I'm asking myself today is what I can do to ensure that this isn't the world that my nephews have to grow up in. I don't have any great answers to that question right now. One small thing I can do is speak up when people are lying, in hopes that even one person might hear what I'm saying and reevaluate what they think they know is true.
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