Like everybody, I’m watching the unrest in Minneapolis with concern, particularly after Renee Good was shot. Another protester, Alex Pretti, was killed on January 24th. I wish they were both alive today. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. In that spirit, everyone should remember two bits of common sense:
- Don’t bring guns to a confrontation with police; and
- If you think the police are doing something illegal, fight it in court, not on the street.
What Happened
Border patrol agents were chasing a suspect who fled into a donut shop. Patrons locked the doors. Border patrol called for backup, and so did the door-locking donut shop patrons. As CNN put it, “Community members in the shop contacted members of a rapid response network for first responders to help with the situation.” Sure enough, a crowd began to form. “What I saw is that there was a lot of people, getting togther trying to come and get the attention from the officers, and they managed to do it,” said a witness, who came to Minnesota from Atlanta to protest immigration enforcement.
I think neutral language conveys what a bad idea this is: the people in the donut shop called in a crowd to help them obstruct a lawful arrest.
Alex Pretti was on the scene. He appeared to be ignoring DHS orders to the crowd to disperse. He recorded the officers with his cell phone while directing traffic around them. DHS officers pushed the crowd out of the roadway, including a woman who fell to the ground. Pretti steps between the agent and the woman. The agent pepper-sprayed Pretti, who still did not leave. Insead, Pretti pulled at the backpack of the other bystander. More officers arrive and push Pretti to the ground. As CNN says, “he appears to resist them, leading to a scrum on the street.” Here’s more from CNN:
One agent appears to repeatedly strike Pretti while he is on the ground. Another agent, wearing a grey jacket, can be seen from some camera angles reaching into the scrum of other officers and retrieving a weapon that seems to match the firearm the DHS says Pretti possessed. That agent then walks quickly away from the scuffle.
That man was running away as shots were fired.
The most important single fact at this point, to me, an experienced watcher of police-civilian interactions, is whether Pretti had a gun. Minnesota allows the open carry of pistols. The odd thing, and the reason why I wrote this article, is that major media outlets seems reluctant to answer the question: “did Alex Pretti have a gun?”
Did Alex Pretti Have a Gun?
The New York Times’ explainer does not say that Alex Pretti has a gun. Instead, they say that the Department of Homeland Security is claiming that Pretti had a gun. This claim is placed in “scare quotes,” an industry practice that warns readers to be skeptical. The Washington Post says “Federal agent secured gun from Minn. man before fatal shooting, videos show.” The AP says that during the scuffle agents “discovered that he was carrying a 9 mm… handgun,” while also emphasizing that none of the footage shows him actually holding the weapon. Strangely, the AP quibbles with “statements by the Trump administration, which said that the shots were fired “defensively” against Pretti as he “approached” them with a gun. Again, note the scare quotes.
Alex Pretti Had a Gun
What is odd about all of this is that the gun was recovered, along with two magazines. Video shows the gun in Pretti’s waistband during his altercation with law enforcement. A CNN analysis claims that a federal officer can be seen on video taking it from Pretti before Pretti was shot. Officers can be heard shouting, “he’s got a gun.” Later, officers can be heard asking, “where’s the gun?” while another answers, “I got the gun.” DHS later released this photo of the gun:
Media Are Skipping to the Second Question: Did Pretti Brandish the Gun
The videos do not show Pretti firing the gun, or even touching the gun. On the other hand, DHS sources are saying that Pretti “may have grabbed his gun and fired a shot.” But this is the second stage of the analysis. Media coverage, like the venerable New York Times, skips over an important fact: Pretti got into a fight with law enforcement while open carrying a loaded pistol.
This second question about gun use is still important. If Pretti had fired his gun, or brandished the gun, or even put his hand on the gun then this situation looks much more justifiable for law enforcement. On the other hand, if he didn’t, and officers mistook his phone for the gun, it looks worse for them. But none of this is relevant to your average reader, who needs to understand one thing: if Pretti had left his gun at home, he would likely be alive today.
Why This Matters
It’s wrong to skip over the fact that Pretti brought his gun to the confrontation that led to his death.
It’s easy to find loud voices out there decrying Pretti’s shooting. If, as it appears to me, Pretti was shot after being disarmed, then his death was unnecessary at best, and it was murder at worst. With the understanding that law enforcement deserves blame for this, and that this perspective is being vigorously represented elsewhere, I’d like to move on to what the media has not been saying.
Written as it is, the media make Pretti out to be a peaceful martyr who was shot for no reason. Media thrive on outrage, as we all know, and they are actively trying to make this shooting seem more outrageous.
The truth is, Pretti made mistake after mistake to place himself in the situation where he was killed. He should not have come to the donut shop to try to prevent the officers from making their arrest. That is both wrong and criminal. If you believe an arrest is illegal: fight it in court. Not on the street. This is a lesson that no one is learning and media is mostly to blame. Pretti’s next mistake was bringing his gun. After that, his next mistake was loading the gun. There’s more errors. He should not have physically come between the law enforcement officer and the woman blocking the street. If he believed that the force used on the woman was excessive, and from the video it seems to be, she can sue. But he cannot make the situation more dangerous by physically responding, especially while armed. That creates a danger to the officers and to Pretti himself, as we vividly saw.
This appears to me to be a situation where an armed man got into a scuffle with law enforcement. During the scuffle, officers removed the gun but not all officers knew the gun was gone. One of the officers mistook the cell phone in Pretti’s cellphone for the gun and killed him.
Let’s Finish With Some Good Advice
Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor for the Central District of California, said that there is a “high likelihood” that law enforcement will be “legally justified” in shooting someone who approaches them with a gun. His advice: “If you value your life, do not aggressively approach law enforcement while armed.” Only in our polarized atmosphere would advice this obvious be treated as controversial.
DA in CA 