I’m going to admit it; I bought the earlier lies and believed Pretti brandished a gun at officers the day he was killed. That doesn’t look like it was true and I apologize for my mistake.
Given the new video that shows him as a violent agitator, I’m forced to conclude that even if he wasn’t brandishing a weapon, he was engaged in combat with officers on multiple occasions while carrying a weapon. In the heat of the moment, when a gun is even seen, officers have reason to fear for their lives. And given that we know he repeatedly inserted himself into violent scuffles with ICE, it’s correct to say his own foolish decisions led to his tragic death.
I wish it hadn’t happened and whether it was a misfire or a miscommunication, something about the gun scared officers. Given reason to fear for their life, they are allowed to use deadly force. I don’t know if anyone truly understands what happened that day, because I find it unclear, but it all could have been avoided by being peaceful. This doesn’t mean I endorse what the officers did, but it does mean I can understand how and why it happened, and I think in the heat of the moment they have a defensible position.
Renee Good may very well never have intended to hit the officer with her car. Pretti may have had the thought he was just wrestling. But it doesn’t matter what YOU think in a fight with armed officers; if you make them fear for their lives, they’re going to fire. And if you chose to engage with them, fight them, kick them, and harass them, they you chose to start a conflict.
I would feel very differently about this if either person was minding their own business and was randomly attacked. The government has no business assaulting peaceful protestors.
But in both cases, they inserted themselves in the conflict with weapons (yes a car is a deadly weapon). In both cases they refused to obey orders or to retreat from the situation. Pretti had a history of violence against officers that Good did not, but Good still made a series of poor choices that brought her where she was.
We have the right to protest with words and non violence, but not to fight. The should be common sense, but to far too many lost young souls who want to LARP as heroes, it’s not.
I like Batman, but I don’t dress in black and chase down criminals in real life because I know the difference between fantasy and reality.
Alex Pretti had a broken rib from a confrontation with federal agents one week before his death after five agents tackled him at an anti-ICE protest.
That injury is documented.
He went back anyway.
He repeatedly inserted himself into active federal enforcement operations.
He would not leave ICE alone.
On the day he was killed, he returned to another ICE operation
This time armed.
Federal officials state he approached agents with a handgun and resisted disarmament.
The firearm discharged during the struggle.
Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry. Which is a good thing.
That does not give you the right to confront federal agents mid-operation.
Videos show him holding a phone at one moment.
Videos also show an agent removing a firearm from the scuffle seconds before shots were fired.
That matters.
So does this…
He had already been injured doing the same thing.
He knew the risk.
He chose escalation.
HE CHOOSE VIOLENCE.
This was not a random bystander.
This was not an innocent passerby.
This was a repeat agitator inserting himself into federal law enforcement activity.
Tragic outcome.
Predictable chain of events.
The real question isn’t emotion…
It’s accountability.
Who escalated.
Who returned.
Who ignored the warning signs.
Facts don’t bend for narratives.
Alex Pretti had a broken rib from a confrontation with federal agents one week before his death after five agents tackled him at an anti-ICE protest.
That injury is documented.
He went back anyway.
He repeatedly inserted himself into active federal enforcement operations.
He would not leave ICE alone.
On the day he was killed, he returned to another ICE operation
This time armed.
Federal officials state he approached agents with a handgun and resisted disarmament.
The firearm discharged during the struggle.
Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry. Which is a good thing.
That does not give you the right to confront federal agents mid-operation.
Videos show him holding a phone at one moment.
Videos also show an agent removing a firearm from the scuffle seconds before shots were fired.
That matters.
So does this…
He had already been injured doing the same thing.
He knew the risk.
He chose escalation.
HE CHOOSE VIOLENCE.
This was not a random bystander.
This was not an innocent passerby.
This was a repeat agitator inserting himself into federal law enforcement activity.
Tragic outcome.
Predictable chain of events.
The real question isn’t emotion…
It’s accountability.
Who escalated.
Who returned.
Who ignored the warning signs.
Facts don’t bend for narratives.
Regarding Alex Pretti:
My timeline is filled with left-wingers trying to use this agitator's death for their political ends.
Half of the right is framing this guy as a terrorist-to-be, "he brought too much ammo," "he didn't have his ID," "he shouldn't have been armed," and whatever else that contradicts their arguments during the Kyle Rittenhouse trial and other 2nd Amendment issues.
The other half of the right are calling this a bi-partisan issue of government overreach. "The American government should not be able to execute citizens like this!" As if this guy didn't put himself, the people around him, and federal agents into a dangerous position.
Only a few people have any actual connection to reality. Pretti had a right to carry his firearm and whatever else he had (no, I really don't care that his ID wasn't on him). But exercising this right also comes with additional responsibilities. Introducing a firearm into a potential conflict immediately augments its gravity.
Pretti was fully in the right to carry, but under no circumstances should he have been physically resisting an officer of the law. The chances of him getting shot in such an altercation are extremely high, as the officers now have to react to the existence of that firearm during a struggle.
The idea that we should expect law enforcement officers, even if they were the best men among us, to wrestle with armed men and to completely disregard their own safety is simply a fantasy.
And to be clear, I am not saying that one forfeits their right to life simply because they are armed and encounter the police. Kyle Rittenhouse is a great example of this. When confronted, he raised his hands and informed officers he was armed. He complied with their orders. No one got hurt.
It doesn't even really matter what the law is, or what your rights are, in a moment like that. If two armed parties engage in a struggle, the chance of lethal force being applied is substantial. A cop will fear for his life just as much as anyone else, and is an enforcer of the state's monopoly on violence. If you choose to test his mettle, you are playing a very dangerous game.
If you want whatever legal principle you are standing for to be honored - take it to the courtroom. That's your best chance. If you try to find justice with a policeman, and you die, it really doesn't even matter if you're in the right. You're dead, and no, there is no justice that can make you whole again. This is why you need to de-escalate confrontations with the police, and be extremely measured in your actions.
So, it feels the response from the right should be obvious: an armed man physically resisted the police and it got messy. It's terrible, but we can't reasonably expect otherwise from a bunch of men being actively harassed by interferers and then finding out one of the people wrestling with you has a weapon.
The cops do not have frame-by-frame technology in that moment. Things happen fast (possible misfire of Pretti's sig), and decisive action is necessary.
Pretti didn't have to die. Do not interfere with law enforcement, and especially do not do so while being armed.
As always, it's also important to contrast the media outrage of Pretti's death with the complete silence that occurs from the corporate press when Americans are killed by illegal immigrants.
The deportations must continue.
Regarding to the death of the nurse that lost his life, let's review the actions he took:
- get emotionally riled up from multiple social media posts from City and State officials, check.
- make a choice between letting the federal law enforcement agents do their job, or going to the scene and interfering with the operation, check.
- delete social media accounts prior to heading out to the protest, check.
- take a 1500.00 weapon, check.
- take extra magazines, check
- leave all forms of ID, including your CCW licence at home, check.
- have camera out in order to catch a gotcha moment you can monetize via the Internet, check.
- interfere with a law enforcement operation, check.
- fail to inform agents he was carrying, check.
- die from your bad choices listed above, check.
Game over.
Regarding to the death of the nurse that lost his life, let's review the actions he took:
- get emotionally riled up from multiple social media posts from City and State officials, check.
- make a choice between letting the federal law enforcement agents do their job, or going to the scene and interfering with the operation, check.
- delete social media accounts prior to heading out to the protest, check.
- take a 1500.00 weapon, check.
- take extra magazines, check
- leave all forms of ID, including your CCW licence at home, check.
- have camera out in order to catch a gotcha moment you can monetize via the Internet, check.
- interfere with a law enforcement operation, check.
- fail to inform agents he was carrying, check.
- die from your bad choices listed above, check.
Game over.