When They Came for the Witnesses

Prologue: The Phone

Alex Pretti was holding his phone. The video is clear on this point. In bystander footage that would circulate within hours, the thirty-seven-year-old ICU nurse can be seen with his iPhone in his right hand, his left hand empty and raised. He is disoriented—federal agents had just pepper-sprayed a woman nearby, and when Pretti reached out to help her, approximately seven agents tackled him to the ground.1

What happened next took approximately five seconds. At least ten shots were fired. Several came after Pretti lay motionless on the pavement. He died there, on a residential street in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, near 26th Street West and Nicollet Avenue, at approximately 9:00 A.M. on January 24, 2026.

It was seventeen days since Renee Nicole Good had been killed by federal agents less than two miles away.

Pretti had been there that day—January 7—when Good was shot through the windshield of her SUV. He had seen the aftermath. According to his parents, he had been motivated to return to the protests by what he witnessed. He wanted to document what was happening in his city.2

He was holding his phone when they killed him.

This is the story of the second killing—and of the escalation it revealed.

Part I: The Pattern

To understand Alex Pretti's death, you must first understand Renee Nicole Good's. Not because the killings were identical—they were not—but because the federal response followed an identical script. The same lies. The same obstruction. The same inversion of victim and perpetrator.

On January 7, when an ICE agent shot Good through her windshield as she drove away from a stuck federal vehicle, the administration's response was immediate: she was a "domestic terrorist" who had "viciously ran over" the agent. Video evidence showed no agent being run over. The agent walked around the scene afterward, unhurt. But the lie did not require evidence. It required repetition.5

Seventeen days later, when Border Patrol agents shot Pretti while he lay on the ground after being tackled and pepper-sprayed, the response was the same—only more so. The claims were more dramatic. The accusations more severe. The stakes explicitly raised.

This is not an accident. In the anti-reality field, each repetition of the pattern must escalate. The lies must grow more brazen. The accusations must grow more severe. Otherwise the audience grows bored, and the loyalty test loses its power.

Calling Good a "domestic terrorist" was a test. Calling Walz and Frey "insurrectionists" is a threat.

Part II: The Killing

Alex Jeffrey Pretti was, by all accounts, exactly the kind of person you would want treating you in an intensive care unit. He worked at the Minneapolis VA hospital, caring for American veterans. His parents described him as "a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends."2 He had no criminal record. His only prior interactions with law enforcement were traffic tickets.

He was also a lawful gun owner. He had a valid permit to carry a concealed weapon—a permit issued by the state of Minnesota, in accordance with state law. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara would later confirm this, along with a critical detail: Pretti's gun was not drawn when he was attacked.6

On the morning of January 24, Pretti joined protests against Operation Metro Surge—the ongoing federal immigration enforcement action that had, by this point, terrorized Minneapolis for nearly two months. He brought his phone to record what was happening.

Mayor Jacob Frey would later describe what bystander video showed: "more than six masked agents pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death."7

This is the third shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis since January 7. It is the second fatality. The pattern is now undeniable: federal agents are operating in Minneapolis with lethal impunity, and anyone who documents their activities is at risk.

Part III: The Lies

The rewriting began before Pretti's body was cold. This, too, follows the pattern. The lie must precede the evidence. The narrative must be established before anyone has time to think.

Secretary Noem held a press briefing that afternoon. Her claims were extraordinary:

Noem claimed Pretti had "approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun" and "reacted violently" when officers attempted to disarm him. She accused Governor Walz and Mayor Frey of "encouraging violence against our citizens and law enforcement officers" through their "rhetoric."3

When ABC News asked what evidence she had to support her claim that Pretti intended to hurt law enforcement, Noem did not answer.

The claim was false. The video showed Pretti holding a phone, not a gun. Police Chief O'Hara confirmed the gun was not drawn. Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit—the same right that conservatives champion as fundamental. But in the anti-reality field, a permit-carrying gun owner becomes a would-be assassin the moment he documents federal agents.

The Cascade

Watch the cascade, now familiar:

Trump's Truth Social post came with a photograph of Pretti's gun—the gun that was not drawn, the gun that was legally owned, the gun that was irrelevant to a man being shot while holding his phone. Trump wrote: "This is the gunman's gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go. What is that all about?"4

What it was about was a man exercising his Second Amendment rights in accordance with state law. But the anti-reality field does not recognize rights for those who oppose the regime. It recognizes only threats.

Part IV: The Insurrection

The word "insurrection" is not chosen casually. It is a legal term with specific meaning—and specific consequences.

The Insurrection Act of 1807 grants the President authority to deploy the U.S. military domestically to suppress "insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy." It is the legal mechanism by which a president can send troops into American cities over the objection of state governments.

When Trump accused Governor Walz and Mayor Frey of "inciting Insurrection," he was not merely engaging in rhetorical excess. He was laying the groundwork.

This is the escalation that matters. On January 7, the administration called a dead mother a "domestic terrorist." On January 24, it called living elected officials "insurrectionists." The target has shifted from victims to opponents. The threat has shifted from defamation to deployment.

Consider what Trump is claiming: that a governor who says "pull federal agents out of my state" is committing insurrection, while federal agents who kill unarmed citizens are "doing their job." That a mayor who says "get the fuck out of Minneapolis" is inciting violence, while masked agents who pump ten bullets into a man holding a phone are acting in self-defense.

This is the anti-reality field in its purest and most dangerous form: the inversion is complete. Resistance to unjustified federal violence becomes insurrection. The violence itself becomes law enforcement.

Part V: The Obstruction

The pattern extends beyond the lies. After each killing, the federal government has moved to prevent independent investigation.

On January 8, the day after Renee Good's death, the FBI announced it was taking exclusive control of the investigation and cutting out the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. State investigators lost access to "case materials, scene evidence or investigative interviews."8

On January 24, the same tactic was deployed again—only this time, federal agents went further. When BCA investigators arrived at the Pretti crime scene, they were physically blocked by federal agents. BCA Superintendent Drew Evans reported that his team was denied access even after presenting a search warrant signed by a Minnesota judge.9

Attorney General Keith Ellison called the federal occupation "illegal and unconstitutional." It did not matter. DHS Secretary Noem announced that DHS would lead the investigation. The same agency whose agents killed Pretti would investigate the killing.

This is not law enforcement. This is impunity by design. When the killers control the investigation, the investigation reaches the predetermined conclusion. When state authorities are blocked from the scene, evidence can be collected—or destroyed—without oversight.

Governor Walz stated the obvious: "The federal government cannot be trusted to lead this investigation. The state will handle it. Period." But without access to the crime scene, without access to evidence, without access to the agents involved, the state cannot investigate. That is the point.

Part VI: The Family

Michael and Susan Pretti, Alex's parents, released a statement that afternoon. It is worth reading in full, for what it reveals about the distance between the administration's narrative and the reality of their son's life.

They addressed the federal claims directly:

The family revealed that they had warned Alex two weeks earlier, after he witnessed the Renee Good shooting: "Go ahead and protest, but do not engage, do not do anything stupid." He had followed their advice. He had brought only his phone. He had tried to help a woman who had been pepper-sprayed.2

For this, he was tackled by seven agents and shot at least ten times.

Part VII: The Resistance

Not everyone accepted the lie. In Minneapolis, in Washington, in state capitals across the country, the response was immediate.

Governor Walz held a press conference that afternoon. His language had escalated to match the moment:

When asked about DHS's claim that Pretti was shot in self-defense, Walz called it "nonsense." He said: "What I see with my eyes and what you're going to see with your eyes makes that pretty hard to believe."10

Mayor Frey was equally direct: "I just saw a video of more than six masked agents pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death. How many more residents, how many more Americans, need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?"7

Frey announced the city was filing for a temporary restraining order to halt Operation Metro Surge entirely.

The Senate Acts

In Washington, Senate Democrats announced they would block Department of Homeland Security funding. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats would only support broader appropriations if DHS funding was removed. Senator Chris Murphy articulated the demand: "ICE must leave Minneapolis. Congress should not fund this version of ICE."11

Multiple Democratic senators—Elizabeth Warren, Mark Warner, Brian Schatz, Mark Kelly, Catherine Cortez Masto, Jacky Rosen—signaled they would join the blockade. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for immediate action: "Senate Dems should block ICE funding this week. Activate the National Guard."

This represents the most significant congressional pushback against Trump's immigration enforcement operations since he took office. The question is whether it will be enough—whether defunding can happen before military deployment makes it moot.

Epilogue: The Witnesses

Alex Pretti went to document what was happening in his city. He brought his phone because he wanted a record. He wanted evidence.

This is what witnesses do. They watch. They record. They create a record that exists independent of power, that cannot be controlled by those who wield it. In authoritarian systems, witnesses are dangerous precisely because they threaten the monopoly on truth.

The administration has now killed two people in Minneapolis in seventeen days. Both were recording. Renee Nicole Good was filming from her car when agents surrounded her. Alex Pretti was filming nearby agents when they tackled him. In both cases, the existence of video evidence has contradicted the official narrative. In both cases, the administration has told the lie anyway.

We know what happened. The video exists. The witnesses exist—those who survived, those who recorded, those who watched their neighbor die on the pavement.

In the anti-reality field, none of that matters. What matters is whether you repeat the lie, whether you submit to the absurdity, whether you demonstrate loyalty by affirming what you know to be false.

The Trump administration has made its position clear. Those who document federal violence will be treated as threats. Those who resist federal violence will be treated as insurrectionists. Those who govern cities where federal violence occurs will be accused of incitement.

Alex Pretti was a thirty-seven-year-old ICU nurse. He cared for veterans. He tried to help a woman who had been pepper-sprayed. He held his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand above his head.

They came for the witnesses. They shot him ten times.

What happens next depends on whether anyone is still watching.