DOJ opens civil rights investigation over Alex Pretti shooting

Federal prosecutors launched a civil rights probe into the fatal shooting of protester Alex Pretti, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters at a Friday briefing. Blanche couldn’t share many details about the ongoing investigation with reporters, but assured them that all witness testimony and evidence would be examined. Investigators are looking at everything from days and weeks before the shooting to help shed light on the incident, Blanche said.

The shooting of Pretti marked the second fatality stemming from Minnesota-based shootings involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement, following the death of Renee Good earlier this month. Federal officials accused both Pretti and Good of interfering with officers’ operations and being armed threats, Good by allegedly weaponizing her car, and Pretti by having a legal firearm on his person. A Border Patrol spokesperson told WORLD on Wednesday that the officers involved in the fatal shooting last Saturday were immediately placed on leave, per standard procedure.

Is Good getting a Civil Rights investigation? Despite the case similarities, the DOJ’s Civil Rights officials only planned to investigate Pretti’s case. Civil rights investigators take certain cases with certain circumstances, he said, without giving further details about the specific circumstances of Pretti’s case that met the threshold.

Blanche’s investigation confirmation came several days after a video circulated online of a man who appeared to be Pretti aggressively interacting with law enforcement days before the fatal shooting. Footage showed the man yelling at federal agents inside an SUV, then spitting on the car. As the SUV drove forward, the man followed the SUV and kicked out a taillight. Agents then got out of the SUV, grabbed the man, and pulled him to the ground. The man appeared to have a gun in his back waistband. A person with knowledge of the incident confirmed that the person in the video was Pretti, according to the Associated Press.

President Donald Trump released a Friday statement characterizing Pretti as an agitator and possible insurrectionist based on the surfaced footage. Pretti’s stock dropped hard since his display of abuse and anger was released on video for all to see, Trump wrote.

Dig deeper: Read Liz Lykins and Travis K. Kircher’s report about the agents involved in the latest Minnesota shooting being put on leave.