By Dave Workman
Eyewitness accounts and assorted videos from different angles conflict with government statements in the Saturday shooting death of Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti, who was licensed to carry a concealed handgun in Minnesota, and appeared to have been disarmed prior to being shot.
In remarks to CNN, Rob Doar, president of Minnesota Gun Owners Law Center, stated, “I see nothing that Mr. Pretti did that was unlawful. The narrative that’s been coming out (of the administration) afterwards, I think is going to have a chilling effect … it’s going to confuse people about the rights that they actually have.”
Fox News describes Pretti as a “U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ICU nurse.” Various reports say he had attended other rallies.
Several videos are available. NBC News ran a montage of them.
NPR is reporting, “Pretti was a U.S. citizen with no known criminal record. DHS says he was armed, and the city’s police chief confirmed he had a lawful permit to carry. There has been no evidence that NPR has verified of Pretti brandishing his handgun at any time during the encounter with federal agents. One video appears to show an officer take away his gun just before another shoots him.”
TGM has viewed several videos of the fatal confrontation, from different angles, and likewise has seen no visible brandishing of a handgun, an image of which has been circulated by the establishment media, and on various social media platforms. Images of Pretti show him with a cellphone in his right hand, which he appears to be using to video the incident, and nothing in his left hand. The pistol is a Sig Sauer 9mm with an optical sight.
At least one video shows an agent’s hand grasping the pistol from its holster and removing it only a second or two prior to shots being fired. Another video from a different angle shows an officer in a gray parka with the gun in his hand stepping away from the melee involving Pretti and possibly five other agents.
The New York Times is reporting that “a growing number of Republican officials” is also calling for an investigation of the s hooting, while President Trump “blamed Democrats for his ‘tragic’ death in a series of social media posts on Sunday.”
There will likely be multiple investigations into this shooting, and social media has been flooded with opinions from all sides about the wisdom of showing up at a demonstration while armed. Those questions will be sorted out as the investigation unfolds.
Workman is editor-in-chief at TheGunMag.com
