@loadedtotchos.bsky.social:
Street art on pill hill in Seattle
@AdameMedia:
When they start sending federal agents to your house for criticising lsrael they will now be able to kill you and label you a terrorist.
We watched as every Palestinian nurse, doctor, mother, child and poet was labelled a “terrorist” and killed with impunity.
Now it’s happening in America.
They are now 36 days late on releasing the Epstein files btw.
@jonathanhoefler.bsky.social:
While the pasty incels who work the federal agencies continue to churn out feeble, bloodless AI pastiches of Axis propaganda, here’s how a living breathing artist powerfully invokes design history. This is by illustrator Emily K in South Philly, a free poster-sized download on her website
@aeneasist.bsky.social:
Good and Pretti murdered in Minnesota; Melvillesque allusions that go straight to the heart of the matter; imagine the darkness of using tech to single out such victims.
Canada’s ex PM, now IDU (Nazi) Chair, Steve Harper’s firm, AWZ is an investment firm financing Israel’s spy tech killing Palestinian kids.
@eddsmitty.bsky.social:
When Black people were murdered by cops, the victims were vilified. To many, it was a “Black problem”. In less than 2 weeks, Law enforcement murdered 2 White U.S citizens. They too were vilified.
Do y’all get it now?
We told you.
Everybody’s Black.
@revolutionary2.bsky.social:
Race is a red herring. The struggle has ALWAYS been about class. Racism is a tool designed to divide us.
@roddusi.bsky.social:
KeithPorter #ReneeGood #AlexPretti dozens of immigrants killed on the streets and in concentration camps, hundreds disappeared, children kidnapped and held for ransom . . . #ICE
@a-starry-knight.bsky.social:
Only Straight White Christian Males who agree with the White Christian Nationalist agenda are acceptable.
Anything less than the above is, well, less, and is free game to dominate, exploit, and destroy.
Hopefully, enough decent Americans will finally understand this & stand up together.
Alex Pretti: Analysing Footage of Minneapolis CBP Shooting by bellingcat, January 25, 2026
To stay up to date on our latest investigations, join Bellingcat’s WhatsApp channel here
On January 24, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System, was shot and killed by federal agents on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The shooting comes just over two weeks after Renee Good was shot and killed by a federal agent in the same city
The United States Department of Homeland Security claimed Pretti was killed after an “armed struggle” with DHS officers and that it seemed he had wanted to “do maximum damage”. Yet video footage shared online, showing shortly before and during the incident, appears to contradict that claim.
Some of the earliest available footage of the encounter was posted to Instagram and shows an agent crossing the street to talk to Pretti who appears to be filming with his phone, which he is holding in his right hand. According to DHS, agents were conducting an immigration arrest in the area.
The agent can be seen placing his hand on Pretti’s torso to push him back and away from the middle of the road towards the sidewalk.
Another video shared on Reddit shows what happened after this initial contact, as well as the lead-up to the shooting. Pretti appears to put himself between two women after they were both shoved by a DHS agent. He is holding a cellphone, held sideways in his right hand.
An agent can then be seen spraying Pretti with a substance from a canister, and continuing to spray him as he turns his back to him. At least five additional federal agents approach and attempt to force Pretti to the ground while one appears to strike him with a spray can.
Twenty-five seconds after Pretti is first sprayed, a shot is heard followed by nine more shots in the span of about six seconds. Additional video from the scene shows Pretti lying motionless on the ground.
Video Analysis
Bellingcat further analysed the Reddit video, a separate video posted to Facebook and others taken at the scene to break down the key moments of the shooting, splicing them together (see Bluesky post below) to view in more granular detail.
Closer inspection of the videos shows that an agent appears to remove a weapon from the melee before the first shots are fired.
In both the Reddit and Facebook video, a federal agent wearing a grey jacket can be seen approaching federal agents who are on top of and struggling with Pretti. Notably, the agent’s hands are empty as he approaches. He can be seen reaching into and rummaging amid the bodies. About twelve seconds later, he is seen carrying a handgun away from the scene.
Another video, also posted to Reddit, shows the agent removing a gun from a holster in Pretti’s waistband before he is shot.
Several aspects of the gun the federal agent is seen moving away with appear to match the gun DHS claim belonged to Pretti (and which they posted to X), a Sig Sauer P320, chambered in 9mm. Some posts online mistakenly claimed the photo of the gun was old due to a misunderstanding of Google Reverse Image Search.
While some law enforcement agencies issue Sig Sauer P320 guns to their agents, the gun that DHS claims Pretti had is customized, and visually distinct from those that are standard issue.
These distinct features include a white pistol grip, black pistol frame, brown slide, and a red dot sight mounted atop the slide. The red dot sight and these various colours are visible on the gun the federal agent is seen leaving with.
Before the agent who takes the gun leaves the scene, it appears someone shouts “gun”, as can be heard in this video that was posted to X, and another video posted to Reddit.
This Reddit video also shows that almost immediately after the agent in the grey jacket leaves with the gun, a single gunshot can be heard, followed by nine other shots.
Slowing it down, the same video shows that as the federal agent in the grey jacket removes Pretti’s gun, an agent in a black beanie, who appears to have a line of sight on the gun being removed, begins to draw his own weapon. As soon as the agent in the grey jacket moves away with the gun and leaves, the agent in the black beanie steps to where the agent in the grey jacket had been with his finger on the trigger and fires the first shot.
Two agents appear to fire their weapons from the footage available, one wearing a black beanie and another wearing a brown beanie, as can be seen in this video.
At the same time as the first shot is fired, the agent in the grey jacket is leaving with the gun taken from Pretti’s holster. An alternate angle appears shows that the slide of this firearm does not move to the rear. This would indicate that it was not fired. Multiple agents, including the agent in the grey jacket, look towards the man in the black beanie immediately after the first shot. Despite some online speculation, there is as yet no evidence that Pretti’s gun was fired.
Bellingcat synced and slowed three videos to show where the agent in the black beanie, and grey jacket, with both drawn guns are when the first shot occurs. What some commenters have suggested is impact marks appear to be snow, that is visible before any shots occur.
Whatsmore, the agent with the black beanie’s right arm that was seen holding the gun moves backwards as the first shot is heard, likely due to the recoil from firing.
After firing once, the agent in the black beanie repositions, and then quickly fires three more shots at Pretti’s back at close range while he appears to try to stand up.
In this video, multiple agents are piled on top of Pretti while his hands can be seen in front of him, on the ground. His hands remain in front of him as the agent in the grey jacket recovers the gun and moves away.
Pretti collapses onto the ground after the first shots and the agents back away. A second agent (the one wearing the brown beanie hat) then draws his gun and fires at least one shot. This is the fifth shot that is heard. The agent in the black beanie can be seen and heard firing more shots. Shots five through ten all fired at Pretti’s motionless body.
The agents can be seen from another angle, with the agent in the black beanie visibly firing into Pretti’s motionless body.
A video taken shortly after the shooting shows two agents searching Pretti’s body with one appearing to be heard asking: “Where’s the gun?”.
Bellingcat contacted the Department of Homeland Security to ask why Pretti was shot and killed and whether he was in possession of his gun when the first shots were fired.
DHS did not respond by time of publication.
DHS and CBP statements have so far only stated that one agent fired shots, identifying them as an eight year veteran of Customs and Border Patrol who fired “defensive shots”. It is not known which of the two agents who appeared to fire shots in the videos analysed by Bellingcat is an eight year veteran of CBP.
Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, on CNN the day after the shooting, when shown video of the gun being removed before the shooting and asked why border patrol agents shot an unarmed man said, “You don’t know he was unarmed. I don’t know he was unarmed.” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, when asked if Pretti was unarmed, said on Meet the Press, “I do not know and nobody else knows either, which is why we’re doing an investigation”.
In the same CNN interview, Bovino also said that “The victims are the Border Patrol agents.” and that “The suspect [Pretti] put himself in that situation.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said that Pretti was a legal gun owner with a permit to carry and did not have a criminal record.
Jake Godin, Trevor Ball, Kolina Koltai and Carlos Gonzales contributed to this report.
Bellingcat is a non-profit and the ability to carry out our work is dependent on the kind support of individual donors. If you would like to support our work, you can do so here. You can also subscribe to our Patreon channel here. Subscribe to our Newsletter and follow us on Bluesky here and Mastodon here.
@lawprofblawg:
DO NOT BRING A GUN TO A PROTEST!
When ICE murders you, ICE will conveniently plant one on you.
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Satire
@HalSinger:
I’m reading a bunch of milquetoast and subtle plans from D leaders about what the party should say and do now. How about just “Abolish ICE”? This shouldn’t be so complicated. Yesterday was the last straw. Shooting a U.S. citizen for filming the abuse of force is not some bug in ICE’s design. Shooting U.S. citizens is the feature of ICE. Removing illegal immigrants is now a pretext to run roughshod over perceived enemies of the state, regardless of citizenship. ICE has morphed into Trump’s secret police force, suppressing dissent and peaceful protest through violence while ignoring the law. ICE can no longer exist or be funded. And if that means shutting down the government again, so be it. #AbolishICE
@agimediata:
You had been warned.
2017:
2026:
@davidsirota:
It’s interesting that the conservative position is suddenly that the government is allowed to extrajudicially murder anyone lawfully carrying a firearm.
@CedarAndHoney:
Poor sweet dear Alex Pretti.
Murdered by Trump
Murdered by Vance
Murdered by Levitt
Murdered by Noem
Murdered by Miller
and so on
Murdered by Canada too:
@martinezdefence:
This is a Roshel Senator-style armoured vehicle, built in Brampton, Ontario. ICE placed an expedited order with Roshel last November for a fleet of 20 such vehicles.
It is unclear who is operating this particular vehicle (i.e. ICE, the National Guard, etc). What is clear is that this vehicle – which is subject to Canada’s arms export legislation – is now on the streets of Minneapolis, being used amid ICE’s widespread human rights violations.
@martinezdefence:
Below are some additional notes on the legal nuances of the arms trade between Canada and the U.S., and Roshel’s arms sales to the U.S. government.
Last month ICE’s media relations team claimed that the Roshel vehicles fell under Buy American provisions and that production of the vehicles “originates” in the United States (ostensibly at Roshel’s production facility in Michigan). As reported by the media, ICE refused to attribute the statement to a named spokesperson, and Roshel refused to publicly comment on the deal.
There are two main reasons to question ICE’s assertions.
First, we can look to details underlying Roshel’s contract with the U.S. government. The ICE acquisition justification (J&A-26-0021) states “Rochel is the only vendor under the General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Category 336992 Non-Tactical Armored Vehicles and Vehicle Armoring Services that possesses sufficient inventory to meet the required delivery schedule and the salient characteristics identified by ICE.” Roshel’s GSA contract (47QSWA22D001R), which is valid through December 1, 2026, lists Roshel LLC as being registered in the state of Delaware, but under “Customer Information” it states at line 5 that the point of production is “Brampton, Canada”. It also states “All items – Canada” under line 9, in response to an inquiry about foreign items.
Second, even if the vehicles were assembled at Roshel’s Michigan facility, they can still be built with Canadian components. In contracts typically subject to the Buy American Act, over 1/3 of the parts can originate from abroad. However, in situations such as this, where there was an urgent order for an otherwise unavailable product, Federal Acquisition Regulation 25.103 provides an option for agencies like ICE to acquire foreign end products “without regard to the restrictions of the Buy American statute.” It is also worth observing that, according to Global Affairs Canada, “Due to Canada’s close and long-standing military cooperation with the United States, Canada and the United States have reciprocal arrangements to ensure permit-free/licence-free movement of most military items between our two countries.”
All of this raises serious questions about Roshel’s contract with ICE and demands transparency about why a Canadian company is producing armoured vehicles for a U.S. agency that is carrying out egregious repression and unprecedented violations of civil liberties.
@EquityNetworkD:
How many times do we have to tell Canadians that we are complicit in SO MUCH of the violence we condemn and feel superior to & exempt from. ICE, Israel, The RSF, mining & the murder of Land Defenders worldwide.Murdering humans makes the rich one hell of a lot of money – including Steve Harper and his more evil twin Mark Carney.
@Mondoweiss:
From Palestine to Minneapolis, ICE and Israel use the same violent playbook
@jesseduquette.bsky.social:
Play Nazi games, win Nuremberg prizes
@RonFilipkowski:
I’m trying to understand Republicans’ latest interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. You can now be executed by federal agents if you possess a firearm? Even after you are disarmed? I’m just trying to keep your position straight on this “shall not be infringed” stuff.
@Noellenarwhal:
I’m genuinely looking forward to watching the downfall of Stephen Miller
@DarrigoMelanie:
We’re at the “give us your voter data that will help us manipulate elections in your swing state, or we’ll continue to kill your citizens and terrorize your communities,” phase of fascism.
This is a threat and extortion.
@stacey_hauff:
As an elections attorney, I’ve been following this activity closely since this summer and it’s very bad.
It will require major public outrage and the involvement of Congress and the federal judiciary to resolve things in a manner that preserves the integrity of our elections.
@mattmfm:
As insane as this sounds, it’s true: Pam Bondi sent Minnesota officials a letter today saying ICE would leave the state if Minnesota turns over its voter files to the Trump Administration.
They’re openly using state violence as a bargaining chip to seize election infrastructure.The Trump Pedo Nazis are stupid and desperate
@mjfree:
The US Military needs to remove Trump and Vance and AG Bondi, Stevie Miller, Greg (Shortie) Bovino, Kristie Noem, Mike Johnson, Pete Hegseth, Elon Musk, Kash Patel, Karoline Leavitt, Marco Rubio, Howard Ludnick, etc. NOW — then pull ICE out of all our cities.
@damselsteel.bsky.social:
Geez. I don’t remember Gnome shooting puppies in the face with signs either!
@ryangrim:
To be clear about what this depicts: An immigration officer threw a woman onto the ground. Alex Pretti, a registered nurse on scene as a legal observer, is filming and goes to help the woman up. He is then pepper sprayed and thrown to the ground for no discernible reason. Many officer surround and assault him; one removes his firearm, which police say appears to have been legally registered. They then execute him with a hail of bullets.
They are, objectively speaking, both cowards and criminals, while Pretti is what we teach people an American ought to be.
@gregolear.bsky.social:
One of the best things I’ve read in a while:
“History never ends, and the last page is never written, and the best pages are written not by presidents, prime ministers, popes, or even professors, but by the people. For all their faults and shortcomings, the people are all we have. In fact, we are they.”
—Michael Parenti
***
@amandamull.bsky.social:
Really hard to look at this and all the other examples of bravery and kindness from ordinary people in this moment not think also of the tremendous cowardice exhibited over the past year by some of the richest, most well-protected people in business, media and politics
@webrant.bsky.social:
Fascism serves the richest, most well-protected people in business, media and politics. Which is why they enable it.
@nkalamb.bsky.social:
Let us all have the courage displayed by the residents of Minneapolis.
@sabreenajm.bsky.social:
The NBA postponed a game because the United States government is killing its citizens.
Can’t emphasize it enough.
@strumpetlily.bsky.social:
Oh look, Brett Ratner was there, seems about right. I would like to see the full list of who else attended this embarrassing display of admiration for the Empress’s new clothes.
@strumpetlily.bsky.social”
Mike Tyson too. For a film directed by a sex abuser (Ratner) about a woman married to a sex abuser, who met her husband through another sex abuser, Epstein, and Ratner is in the files. I wonder who else in the room is connected to the sex trafficking web. Anyone who would accept the invitation is shit.
@dek1.bsky.social:
Not cowardice, complicity
The same day Trump’s agents kill a Veterans Affairs ICU nurse in broad daylight, the CEOs of Apple and Amazon join Trump to watch a private screening of a film about his wife directed by an alleged sexual abuser who was seen shirtless in the Epstein Files
@airbagmoments.bsky.social:
Cowardice is bad, eager collaboration, which is mostly what I see among the oligarchs, is worse.
@shirleyujest.bsky.social:
Tim Cook was watching “Melanie” with Trump last night. I wish I could throw my Apple products into the lake.
@cougsta.bsky.social:
I just saw an ad for Melania, the movie. And I kinda wish I would’ve had a shotgun handy to obliterate my apple tv.
@babaluinthehaus.bsky.social:
My hope is that the Nobel Committee awards the people of Minneapolis-Saint Paul its next peace prize, and Trump finally loses what’s left of his mind. Well, that’s one of my hopes.
@soog.bsky.social:
That would be amazing
@smr260.bsky.social:
And if we’re honest, look at the ordinary people on the other side who support this regime: they don’t volunteer. They aren’t involved in their greater community. They think empathy is weakness. They think women should do everything. I know disinformation has poisoned their minds but…
***
@Daractenus:
Hard as it is to accept it, we in Europe must come to terms with the fact that this is precisely the kind of country a significant percentage of the US population wants to have.
Europe cannot be the ally or the partner of this.
Greg Bovino:
“An individual approached U.S. Border Patrol agents with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun. The agents attempted to disarm the individual, but he violently resisted. Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, a Border Patrol agent fired defensive
@atrupar:
Bovino shamelessly lies: “This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement”
Fuck. Trump’s SS, like their bosses, are cowards, with Bovino the biggest sleaziest lying coward of them all, and Kash Patel the stupidest.
@ahmedbaba.bsky.social:
So Kyle Rittenhouse, who attended a protest armed with a loaded assault rifle and killed 2 people is a right-wing hero.
But Alex Pretti who had a holstered, permitted handgun, was recording ICE, and tried to help a pepper-sprayed woman deserved to die?
No one is buying this BS.
@ashwinivasantha.bsky.social:
This is how you write a statement.
@marcjspears.bsky.social:
STATEMENT FROM THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYERS ASSOCIATION (NBPA) AND ITS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ON THE FATAL SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS BY ICE
@maxberger.bsky.social:
It’s really too bad the United States Congress no longer exists.It still exists, but it’s gone Nazi.
@albrechts-h.bsky.social:
The only consistent right wing ideology is hypocrisy
@brucearthur.bsky.social:
I almost appreciate how Trump has exposed how vacant every single high profile conservative belief was: free speech, states’ rights, letting the market decide, NATO, the right to bear arms, democracy, all of it. It’s been an empty, malicious political project for decades and decades now
@astrokatie.com:
A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.
@notdoppelganger.bsky.social:
Where did they find a lecturn small enough for dinky dan to see over?
@juniper92254244.bsky.social:
He’s standing on a box.
isbromcdudeho.bsky.social:
Where is the Pope? Have‘t heard anything from him
***
***
@ianbennett.bsky.social:
This will not end well. It is horrifying.
@MalloryMovies:
His last fucking words were “don’t touch her” and “are you okay?” And then they fucking executed him as he tried to protect his fellow citizen.
@patrickclarkin.bsky.social:
We tell ourselves “If we don’t talk back, if we alter our routes to avoid protests, if we are lucky enough to be white, straight, natural-born Americans — or, if we are not, but we lie low, stay quiet — we will be safe.…
But that’s not how state terror works.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/o…
Debra Wagner:
I am 73 and never thought I would live to see brown shirts in the streets of America – and at least a third of American citizens cheering them on
@BShulkes:
His last moment on earth was trying to protect a woman being assaulted by masked agents. Man I’m done.
Don G:
When you think that it can’t get worse, it does get worse. One of the witnesses who gave sworn testimony said that after they shot him 6 or seven times they stood over him to count the bullet wounds and refused to give any aid. It is not hard to recognize that we are fully in a police state.
@tiberiusfiles:
He was defending a woman from state-sanctioned killing squads
Alex Pretti was everything decent about humanity
ICE and their supporters are everything evil
@susan_chilton:
And the even deeper problem, the root of the problem, is who ICE deliberately recruiting.
@Microinteracti1:
There simply cannot be a World Cup in the USA in less than six months.
@TrillBroDude:
Nazis in the streets killing people again on behalf of the pedofile president. Imagine how pathetic your life has to be to support this.
@mynamesnotgordy:
“This looks like a situation where an individual arrived to inflict maximum damage and kill law enforcement.”
– Kristi Noem
@aStatesman:
They will look you dead in the face and say J6 rioters with guns, poles, bats, etc were patriots, but an ER Nurse with a camera and a registered firearm was a domestic terrorist.
Noem:
This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.
@coronalaurea13:
This was so awful and sad. They cannot lie their way out of this. We all saw.Ya, but, the many tens of millions of MAGAts, Canadian and American, will never rely on what they saw, or the truth, just what their kid raping Nazi Regime lies to them. Homo naziens.
@NewsWire_US:
Federal judge blocks Trump admin from destroying or altering evidence related to Minneapolis shooting of Alex Pretti.
@electionsjoe:
The fact that a judge needed to even do this in the first place is insane.
@BunsanXBT:
“Judge blocks President from tampering with Evidence”
@zamohappy:
BREAKING: A federal judge has just ordered the Trump administration to preserve all evidence from the shooting of Alex Pretti today in Minneapolis.
This order comes after a request from Hennepin County prosecutors, seeking to prevent the destruction of evidence in Pretti’s case.
@danpjsheehan:
The same Democratic Party that co-sponsored a genocide will continue to meekly facilitate this fascistic takeover.
Until the Dems clear house, the only meaningful resistance to Trump will come from the streets.
@mt854.bsky.social:
Reminder: All it would take to end the murder of American citizens by an untrained government goon squad is 16 Republicans in Congress voting with Dems to defund ICE (or 23 to impeach and remove Trump — 3 in House & 20 in Senate). That’s it. 23 Americans can vote for the public and end all of this.
@prem_thakker Jan 24:
7 Democrats — with the blessing of Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic leadership — just voted with Republicans to give these agents even more money
They are disgusting. We should paste their names everywhere for their choice to fund government murder squads who can kill any American with impunity. They should all resign.
https://newrepublic.com/post/205604/se
@ConflictAlarm:
Sworn witness statements filed in federal court:
A doctor who tried to help says Alex Pretti was shot at least 3 times in the back.
ICE agents blocked him from rendering aid. They weren’t performing CPR.
“I didn’t see him reach for or hold a gun.”
Monday: Minnesota goes to court to end this.
The official story is falling apart.
@hasanthehun:
37 year old Alex Pretti was a registered nurse that worked at the VA. he was killed trying to protect minnesotans. we are letting the worst americans kill the best americans.
@ConflictAlarm:
Stephen Miller just called Alex Pretti a “domestic terrorist” who wanted to “massacre law enforcement.” Alex Pretti was a 37-year-old American. Legal gun owner. Permit to carry. No criminal record.He’s dead. He can’t speak. So they’re writing the story for him.T his is what it looks like when the government gets to label you AFTER they kill you.Just like what Nazi Israel and Nazi USA (under democrat or rethuglican rule) say after murdering Palestinian babies.
@propandco:
ICE is killing Americans on the streets and the propaganda justifying it is sounding very Israeli
@JamieBonkiewicz:
Kyle Rittenhouse fired his gun and was acquitted
Alex Pretti carried his gun legally and was executed
@AssalRad:
“Domestic terrorist”
“Nice young man”
@joeyjo35t:
The weird thing is one of them is holding a camera. The other is holding an automatic weapon. One was murdered for no reason. One murdered people for no reason and got away with it
@tiberiusfiles:
There’s still a very real concern that if Obama was sanctioning these death squads then liberals wouldn’t be saying shit. US tyranny is bipartisan. Change won’t come from Team Blue, it’ll come from massive uprisings against this system.
