Pretti was a US citizen, born in Illinois. According to the AP, like Renée Good, who was also shot by an ICE agent, he had no criminal record and had never had any previous dealings with the police, apart from a few traffic tickets.
His family advised him to be careful at the demonstrations. “We talked to him about two weeks ago about the fact that he could protest quietly, but not get involved in arguments or do anything stupid,” said Michael Pretti. “And he said he knew that. He knew that.”
Apparently it was enough to film the work of the ICE agents. The authorities have not yet proven that he wanted to use his weapon, for which he had a firearms license. Rob Doar, vice president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Association and a gun rights advocate, saw four videos of the incident taken by citizens and described the incident from his perspective, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper. “The agents came at him, he backed away. When he helped a woman, they pounced on him and used pepper spray.”
It appeared as if one of the agents had pulled a gun from a holster on Pretti’s hip. “If he was disarmed like that, and there was no other threat to the agents, then I see no reason why lethal force was used.”
