The shooting of Alex Pretti by ICE officers was a terrible mistake. There should be a full investigation, and the people responsible should be held accountable.
And it was wrong for Department of Homeland Security Director Kirsti Noem and Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller to call Pretti a domestic terrorist and claim he tried to kill ICE officers.
At the same time, it is also the case that Pretti was interfering in a law enforcement operation before ICE officers shot him dead on Saturday. He waved through traffic on the street, physically confronted ICE, and resisted going to ground, as multiple videos showed.
And now, two new videos show Pretti, 11 days earlier, kicking out the taillight of an ICE vehicle, wrestling with ICE agents, and refusing to go to ground. The video shows Pretti’s gun sticking out of his waistband. And it shows him spitting on an ICE officer and screaming, “F—ing assault me, motherf—! F— you guys! You’re f—ing trash!” just before he kicks out the taillight.
