Even the gun lobby is outraged Ten shots, one dead - analysis of the latest drama in Minneapolis

Yet another person dies in Minneapolis after being shot by ICE agents. Who was Alex Pretti? What happened before the escalation? And how are the authorities responding?

Alex Pretti was 37 years old when he was shot and killed on the streets of Minnepaolis, Minnesota, on January 24. He worked as a nurse in the intensive care unit at a veterans' hospital in the city. blue News has already reported on his life.

Pretti has no criminal record and has a gun license. He joined the protests after Renee Nicole Good was killed in his hometown, his family says.

"We are heartbroken, but also very angry," his parents share in a statement, according to CBS. "Alex was a kind-hearted person who cared deeply for his family and friends and also for America's veterans. [...] Alex wanted to make a difference in this world."

The fact that Kristi Noem, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, described the dead man as a domestic terrorist is a source of concern for his relatives. They deny that Alex pulled a gun at any point during his encounter with ICE. "The vile lies the administration is telling about our son are reprehensible and disgusting."

For reasons of piety, blue News is not showing the various videos documenting the deadly scene. "MS Now" examines these clips "frame by frame" together with Darrin Porcher, who used to be a lieutenant with the New York Police Department.

So what happened? ICE agents stop a car in Minneapolis. Alex Pretti films the scene. He doesn't interfere with any of the ICE agents. He even waves to a car that it can drive on.

Shortly afterwards on the other side of the road: An ICE agent ("1" in the picture below) roughly pushes a woman ("2") onto the sidewalk. Pretti ("3") is standing to the right of another person (4) and rushes to help the woman, who flies to the ground.

Pretti (3) stands between the woman (2) and the ICE agent (1), but does not attack him. He raises his left hand defensively and continues to hold his cell phone in his right hand.

The federal officer (1) sprays Pretti (3) with an irritant gas. He turns away while a person (4) helps the woman (2), who has been pushed down, to get up. Another ICE agent (5) joins them.

Pretti remains bent over, the woman falls down again and the ICE agent fires a second charge of irritant gas at Pretti.

Pretti bends over the woman, apparently protecting her, and clings to her. The ICE agents pull him away.

The last screenshot of the video: The woman who was pushed down (1) may also have been hit with irritant gas, a woman (2) helps her. Alex Pretti (3) is on the ground and surrounded by eight ICE agents, one of whom (4) takes something from Pretti.

Then one of the ICE agents shouts "gun, gun": This is the procedure to warn fellow agents that a gun is involved. Shortly afterwards, no fewer than ten shots are fired within five seconds. The videos stop shortly afterwards. One clip shows six ICE agents standing some distance away from a corpse.

Alex Pretti is dead.

Kristi Noem, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, explains that Pretti was "waving a gun around". But in no video - there are films from different perspectives - is the young man seen with a weapon in his hand. He is only holding his cell phone, with which he wants to document the ICE procedure himself.

But Pretti was obviously traveling with a gun: The authorities present it later. It looks as if an ICE agent ("4" in the picture above) is pulling the gun from Pretti, who is lying on the ground. This means that the 37-year-old was unarmed when he was shot ten times.

Speaking of guns: Pretti has the appropriate license - and in Minnesota it is also legal to carry a gun concealed. It is also permitted to bring it to a demonstration. So even in this case, Pretti did nothing wrong.

Gregory Bovino, head of the Border Patrol, nevertheless acts in the CNN interview as if the victim himself is to blame: he brought a loaded gun to a "riot", which can be translated as riot, tumult, but also uprising. However, even that would apparently be legal - see point 4.

Pretti obstructed the officers, he continues. It was a "good job by our security forces" because they had "put Pretti down" before he was "in a position" to use his weapon: Pretti had put himself in this situation, according to Bovino.

Lawyer Bill Essyali, whom Trump made First Assistant United States Attorney in California, writes on X, referring to the current case, that it would almost always be legal to shoot someone who approaches an officer while armed.

This, in turn, calls the gun lobby into action. The result is an upside-down world: the otherwise Trump-friendly National Rifle Association (NRA), of all people, is now criticizing the government for such statements.

The idea that officers could lawfully shoot someone just because he or she is carrying a gun is "dangerous and wrong", the NRA defends itself: "Responsible public voices should await a full investigation instead of generalizing and demonizing law-abiding citizens."

After firing at least ten times, the various ICE agents leave the deadly scene together. Ideally, these federal agents would need to be separated from each other so they can't collude their statements, which their use of firearms obligatorily entails.

What is also striking is the astonishingly quick judgment of the authorities: As in the case of Renee Nicole Good, the victim is immediately labeled a domestic terrorist, even though there is not a shred of evidence to support such a claim in either death so far.

Border Patrol chief Bovino even claims that Pretti wanted to "massacre security forces" because the man also had two full magazines with him. Top advisor Stephen Miller calls the victim a "would-be assassin" and a "terrorist" on X - and his boss Donald Trump writes on Truth Scoial: "Let our ICE patriots do their job!"

"Trump officials continue to spread lies after fatal shooting of Alex Pretti", headlines the British "Guardian" quite bluntly about the situation. A report from "Fox News" fits in with this : according to the report, law enforcement authorities in Minnesota are suing the federal authorities and Attorney General Pam Bondi. The accusation is that they have allowed evidence in the Pretti case to disappear.

Attorney General Pam Bondi writes a letter to the governor of Minnesota on the same day that Alex Pretti dies, which the "New York Times" has published online. In it, the 60-year-old offers Tim Walz a deal: She will remove ICE from Minnesota if he fulfills a few conditions.

But before she spells them out, she states that because the state is not cooperating with the federal authorities, the consequences are now "heartbreaking" - she mentions that her people have been called "Gestapo" and "Nazis".

The law is simply not protected in Minnesota. "Fortunately, there are common sense solutions to these problems that I hope we can achieve together," Bondi writes, to promptly make her demands:

1.) Minnesota should turn over to the Department of Justice all data from the Food and Nutrition Service and on Medicaid health benefits. Bondi justifies this with an investigation into fraud.

2) Minnesota should abandon its liberal policy towards refugees. This is "responsible for so much crime and violence" in the state. It must cooperate fully with ICE.

3) Minnesota should provide access to its entire voter registry. This should ensure that registrations comply with federal law

Bondi ends with, "Whether state or local politicians stand in the way or not, we will work every day to protect Americans and make Minnesota safe again. I ask you to join our effort."

Walz puts this offer in the "stun grenade" category: It's more PR than serious, he says. "You're lying," he tells CNN, referring to the accusation that certain information is not being passed on. Bondi should rather take care of the Epstein files, the governor concludes.