Executed Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti was known to federal agents before they killed him, sources claim. They also beat him up and broke his rib days before he was shot to death. Sources told CNN that Pretti had a run-in with federal agents prior to them killing him on 24 January:
Pretti’s name was known to federal agents.
CNN added:
It’s also not clear whether the federal agents who encountered Pretti on Saturday recognized him before they confronted him – eventually wrestling him to the ground, taking a gun from his waistband and then fatally shooting him.
The same report explained:
about a week before his death, he suffered a broken rib when a group of federal officers tackled him while he was protesting their attempt to detain other individuals.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied knowledge of the encounter. But CNN said it had seen documents which showed federal agents routinely gathered data on “agitators”. Agents reportedly:
capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form.
Pretti was even treated for his injuries:
Pretti was later given medication consistent with treating a broken rib, according to records reviewed by CNN.
Days later Pretti was dead, shot by a group of agents in a Minneapolis street in broad daylight. He was legally carrying a sidearm. He made no attempt to draw it and had been disarmed and wrestled to the ground well before before he shot dead execution-style.
Alex Pretti vs trigger-happy paramilitaries
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has fired shots 16 times since July, according to Trump aides. DHS control the notorious Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The most recent killings in Minneapolis have caused worldwide outrage, but the paramilitary thugs have been trigger-happy for years.
The Washington Post said on 27 January:
At least 10 people have been struck by bullets — including four U.S. citizens. Three people have been killed.
The Trump regime has repeatedly doubled down. The January killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis were both blamed on the individuals killed, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
The Post reported:
None of the officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Border Patrol or Homeland Security Investigations has faced criminal charges in any of the shootings, nor has the administration announced any internal disciplinary measures against them.
Explanations for this culture of impunity have varied. Poor training is one excuse. But now DHS is looking to expand its pool of recruits by pitching to military lovers, combat sport fans and gun enthusiast.
Gun nuts and wanna-be soldiers
Journalist Drew Harwell told Democracy Now that the next big recruiting drive would use fascist-themed marketing to attract gun fans and military lovers:
Harwell was there to discuss his major report into a well-funded recruiting drive for new ICE members.
His December 31 investigation warned:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are planning to spend $100 million over a one-year period to recruit gun rights supporters and military enthusiasts through online influencers and a geo-targeted advertising campaign…
This was:
part of what the agency called a “wartime recruitment” strategy it said was critical to hiring thousands of new deportation officers nationwide.
A leaked government document described how targeted ads would reach:
people who have attended UFC fights, listened to patriotic podcasts, or shown an interest in guns and tactical gear.
Clearly DHS is looking for quantity, not quality.
Deadly databases
US reporter Ken Klippenstein had more to say about the collection and use of data to crush dissent in the US. He scoffed at Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin’s claim:
There is NO database of ‘domestic terrorists’ run by DHS.
Why? Because two US security officials had told him that was a straight-up lie:
Two senior national security officials tell me that there are more than a dozen secret and obscure watchlists that homeland security and the FBI are using to track protesters (both anti-ICE and pro-Palestinian), “Antifa,” and others who are promiscuously labeled “domestic terrorists.
They even named the technology used to gather information:
the secret lists and applications go by codenames like Bluekey, Grapevine, Hummingbird, Reaper, Sandcastle, Sienna, Slipstream, and Sparta (including the ominous sounding HEL-A and HEL-C reports generated by Sparta).
An anonymous DHS lawyer connected the practice directly to the War on Terror in just the latest expression of the accelerating ‘imperial boomerang’ effect:
We came out of 9/11 with the notion that we would have a single ‘terrorist’ watchlist to eliminate confusion, duplication and avoid bad communications
since January 6, not only have we expanded exponentially into purely domestic watchlisting, but we have also created a highly secretive and compartmented superstructure that few even understand.
DHS, which controls Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, looks less like an immigration department but the day. As well as killing protestors, it has been collecting data into secretive lists. Senior ‘immigration enforcement’ figures like Greg Bovino have complained about those branding ICE and DHS a modern-day Gestapo. If it bothers them that much there is a simple fix: stop acting like the Gestapo.
Featured image via MedpageToday
By Joe Glenton
From Canary via This RSS Feed.