The left is making a hero and a martyr of Alex Pretti, which makes perfect sense if you ignore nearly all the facts. Here is what we know so far:
* Pretti was no innocent bystander or peaceful protester. He was a member of the signal “ICE watch group” that was formed to interfere with federal law enforcement. Matt Margolis has much more about the well-organized, and no doubt well-financed, criminal group of which Pretti was a member.
* Pretti came to an area where federal officers were carrying out an enforcement action with the intent of trying to disrupt them. He brought with him a luxury version of the popular SIG P320 semiautomatic pistol. The gun’s magazine holds 21 rounds, and he brought along a spare magazine with, presumably, another 21 rounds. Somehow, he thought he needed not only to be armed, but to have 42 rounds ready to go. He carried no identification, a fact which adds to the suspicion that he intended some kind of a shootout.
* Pretti committed at least three crimes. The first was when he interfered with officers, which we see at the beginning of the various videos. We don’t know the full extent of his actions because videos prior to his altercation with the officers have not yet surfaced. But they will. He committed a second crime when he resisted arrest.
* Pretti committed a third crime, the significance of which is not yet clear. It has been asserted that Pretti had a carry permit. That may turn out to be true; if so, he violated the law that requires anyone who is carrying to have on his person 1) his carry permit, and 2) identification. If Pretti did not in fact have a carry permit, then his bringing the gun to the protest was illegal, regardless of whether he owned the gun legally.
* It is remarkably stupid to fight with officers who are placing you under arrest. It is doubly stupid if you are armed. It is hard to understand how anyone could expect such an altercation to end well.
* So what, exactly, happened? A theory gaining currency holds that one of the officers disarmed Pretti and started walking away, when he accidentally discharged Pretti’s pistol. One or more of the officers had yelled “Gun! Gun!” when they saw Pretti’s pistol, and when it was inadvertently fired, they thought Pretti was shooting at them, and responded in kind. This is consistent with the sounds heard on the videos: first one shot, then a slight pause followed by a series of shots. This is one of many individuals who are advancing this theory:
I’ve slowed this down.
In the huddle, one or more ICE officers shout ‘GUN’. This caused another officer to draw his sidearm.
Another officer removed the man’s sidearm, and then walked away, but it was discharged negligently (see for yourself).
The Sig P320 is notorious for… pic.twitter.com/D4k3GF0KuW
— Landeur 🏴 (@Landeur) January 24, 2026
I think that reconstruction is plausible. In the chaotic scene that was caused by the rioters, with people screaming, whistles blowing, and at least one person battling with officers, an officer, handling an unfamiliar weapon, could easily apply pressure to the trigger, accidentally. The P320 is a striker-fired weapon with a relatively light trigger pull and no mechanical safety.
There is no official word yet, but online rumors–take them for what they are worth–suggest that Pretti’s gun was fired once at the scene. We are pretty certain Pretti didn’t fire it, so if it was indeed fired, it will support the above theory. But of course, all of this is speculation until we hear the officers’ accounts.
* Many are now accusing the agents, especially the one who may have accidentally discharged the weapon, of negligence. The FBI investigation will ultimately assign responsibility. But if we are talking about negligence, how about Alex Pretti? He came to the scene with the intent of engaging in criminal acts, and armed for battle. When officers placed him under arrest, he fought them, knowing that the fact that he was armed would have them on high alert. What happened to Pretti was unfortunate, but it was entirely foreseeable and was the result of his own criminal actions.
* My only other observation is that Pretti’s supporters, a group that includes every elected Democrat in Minnesota, do not take seriously the fact that interfering with law enforcement officers in the execution of their duties is a serious crime. That is exactly what the “protesters” in Minneapolis are doing, and yet Tim Walz, Jacob Frey, Amy Klobuchar and the others are cheering them on and exonerating them from all fault. This is an extraordinary abdication of responsibility on the part of Minnesota’s elected leadership. It has led, so far, to two deaths.
