Disarmed and Executed: Why the Death of Alex Pretti Should Be the End of ICE
Dismantle the Media
When you look closely at what is actually happening in Minnesota with “Operation Metro Surge,” it’s hard not to see a massive fracturing of the U.S. Constitution. The Trump Administration has dropped a highly militarized force of over 3,000 armed federal agents into the state, and local officials are fighting back. According to lawsuits filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, alongside the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, this deployment isn’t just an overreach—it’s actively breaking several constitutional amendments.
The legal arguments lay out a terrifying picture of systemic abuse. Under the Tenth Amendment, the federal government is accused of unlawfully hijacking state sovereignty, essentially commandeering local police resources and forcing Minnesota cops to clean up the chaos caused by the feds. Then there is the First Amendment. Officials are arguing that this entire operation is a targeted act of political retaliation against the state’s Democratic leadership and sanctuary policies. It’s viewpoint discrimination, with agents actively recorded retaliating against citizens for engaging in constitutionally protected peaceful protests and legal observation.
The Fourth and Fifth Amendment violations cited in the lawsuits are just as alarming. Agents are routinely conducting warrantless stops, forcing their way into homes without judicial approval, and engaging in blatant racial profiling—stopping people solely based on their perceived race, ethnicity, or accent. To make matters worse, these masked agents are often operating out of unmarked vehicles and outright refusing to identify themselves. This completely strips citizens of their due process and their right to even understand the law enforcement actions being taken against them. Ultimately, the lawsuits argue this violates the guarantee of equal sovereignty, as Minnesota is being disparately targeted for political retribution rather than legitimate public safety.
But the most pressing question is whether the administration knows it is putting civilian lives in danger. The evidence strongly suggests they do. Instead of targeting violent criminals or fraud suspects like they originally claimed, the government sent thousands of agents into a civilian population with shortened training periods and a shocking lack of clear use-of-force policies. These agents have repeatedly escalated situations, indiscriminately deploying chemical weapons and flashbangs against peaceful bystanders and pointing firearms at people who pose absolutely no threat. Instead of reining this in, the administration has defended the use of lethal force, labeled civilian observers as “domestic terrorists,” and claimed ICE agents have “absolute immunity”—rhetoric that experts warn actively encourages reckless behavior.
That reckless behavior is exactly what led to the completely avoidable deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Take Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother. She was shot and killed inside her own car by ICE Agent Jonathan Ross. The federal government claimed she was trying to run him over, but the video evidence tells a completely different story. The footage clearly shows Good steering her car to the right, away from the agent and into the correct flow of traffic, when Ross fired three shots into her vehicle. Ross was standing completely upright and was never actually in the car’s path. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara didn’t mince words, explicitly calling her killing “predictable and preventable.” Even former CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske pointed out a disturbing pattern of federal officers immediately jumping to lethal force in situations that could have easily been de-escalated.
Then there is Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse. His death is incredibly hard to read about. Pretti stepped in to help a woman who had just been shoved to the ground by an agent. When agents tackled him, video proves he was holding nothing but a cell phone. While he was pinned face-down on the ground by multiple officers, one agent removed Pretti’s legally owned handgun from his hip. He was completely disarmed. Less than one second later, another agent opened fire, shooting Pretti at least ten times in the back and torso, continuing to pull the trigger even after he lay motionless.
(Pretti’s legally carried gun)
The Washington Post consulted eight different policing experts on Pretti’s death, and their conclusion was unanimous: this shooting was probably avoidable through basic policing techniques. The experts criticized the agents for engaging in “sloppy wrestling” instead of using standard compliance holds, striking Pretti near the head with a pepper spray canister, and—most critically—failing to communicate to one another that his weapon had already been secured. Former Boston police commander Tom Nolan looked at the facts of firing into a disarmed, motionless man pinned to the ground and simply called it “a stone-cold murder.”
When you step back and look at the totality of Operation Metro Surge, experts agree that these fatalities aren’t just tragic accidents. They are the direct, inevitable result of a lack of supervision, severely inadequate training, and an intentional federal strategy that prioritizes rapid escalation and intimidation over standard, safe law enforcement practices.