Another horrifying shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis

THE LATEST shooting by federal agents on the streets of Minneapolis unfolded just after 9am on January 24th. At least half a dozen masked Border Patrol agents were conducting a “targeted operation”, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), when they encountered a man on a part of Nicollet Avenue known as “Eat Street” and tackled him. A video shot from across the street captures the struggle after it had begun. One officer is seen apparently repeatedly punching the man in the head. A gunshot rings out, then another, and finally an agent appears to shoot multiple bullets into the man’s prone body.

According to Brian O’Hara, the chief of the Minneapolis Police Department, the victim—later identified as Alex Pretti—was a 37-year-old white citizen and gun owner with a legal permit to carry a weapon, and whose only prior contacts with law enforcement arose from traffic violations. Mr O’Hara said DHS had yet to provide local police any information about the killing. DHS did quickly issue a public statement that sought to justify the killing before any reasonable investigation could have been completed. It reported that Mr Pretti had approached the officers carrying a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and then resisted arrest. Fearing for his life, an agent fired “defensive shots”. The statement continued, “This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”

Such evidence-light hyperbole has been a central feature of the Trump administration’s siege of Minneapolis, a notional campaign of immigration enforcement whose larger and transparent purpose has been provocation and political theatre. In recent months a number of DHS statements about violent actions by officers have proven to be misleading or entirely false. Federal authorities have blocked local police from investigating suspected instances of excessive use of force. With this latest shooting, federal agents apparently tried to order the local police to leave the scene. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, some witnesses were arrested by federal agents.

In recent weeks both J.D. Vance, the vice-president, and Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the president, have asserted (wrongly) that federal police enjoy near-total immunity in the performance of their duties. The top cover from Washington and thwarted investigations on the ground have created an atmosphere of impunity that has evidently left federal agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere believing they are free to use lethal force without fear of consequences.

After the killing of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, by a federal agent on January 7th, an FBI agent probing the case resigned, reportedly amid pressure from bureau leadership in Washington to end the inquiry. Kristi Noem, within hours of the shooting, declared Ms Good to have committed “an act of domestic terrorism”. The Department of Justice was ordered instead to investigate Ms Good and her wife. The agent who shot Ms Good, Jonathan Ross, has been valorised on the right as a hero. Online, almost $800,000 has been raised for him by supporters.

What will happen now? Even before the killing, Minnesotans were angry. On January 23rd thousands of people braved temperatures of -29°C (-20°F) to protest against the DHS operation in the city. Hundreds of businesses shuttered their doors and workers stayed home in what was called a “general strike”. Donald Trump seems to consider this tantamount to armed revolution. “The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric,” he posted on Truth Social a few hours after the killing, referring to Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, and Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota.

But as Mr Frey noted in a press conference after the latest killing, there was “not a single broken window” after the demonstrations on the 23rd. He called the federal operation in Minneapolis an “invasion” of “heavily armed masked agents…emboldened with a sense of impunity”, and asked, “How many more residents, how many more Americans, need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?” Mr Walz, in a separate press conference, accused the administration of “sowing chaos and violence”. He contrasted that with ordinary Minnesotans, who he said are “protesting loudly and urgently, but peacefully”.

After the killing on January 24th, protesters emerged, screamed at federal agents and were pushed back with tear gas. The DHS characterised them as “rioters”, though the available footage suggested that they were angry but not violent. Mr O’Hara, the police chief, called for protesters to stay peaceful. If they manage that, they will have demonstrated considerably more restraint than the armed officers of the federal administration. ■