Recent videos of ICU nurse Alex Pretti interacting with Border Patrol days before the Minneapolis shooting have surfaced online.

The videos further polarized the already disputable killing of the 37-year-old. And viewers from all over are using the recordings to forward claims that Alex was either inciteful or innocent.

In the recordings, Alex can be seen shouting, spitting, and eventually kicking out the tail light of a federal agent’s vehicle. The video later showed Pretti and a couple of agents eventually entering a scuffle.

Many observers have been using his aggressive behavior on the recent recording as a means to justify the Jan. 24 shooting. They argued that Alex was threatening the lives of federal officers, and also should not have been carrying a firearm. Opposers insisted that his actions days later permitted officers to escalate, and shoot Alex.

There are two serious things wrong with this idea.

Firstly, despite Pretti’s aggressive behavior, it should be obvious that screaming, spitting, and kicking vehicles does not justify being shot to death by anyone, not even federal officers. 

On neither day did Alex make any life threatening advances toward the agents, so it’s hard to believe the officers needed to kill him to end the Jan. 24 civilian-agent confrontation. 

Alex would have had to attempt to use lethal force on an officer for most people to believe that Border Patrol agents needed to use deadly force onto Alex Pretti. However, as shown on all recordings, Alex never once used a life threatening measure against the officers, so this argument is unconvincing.

Secondly, Alex was legally allowed to carry his firearm at the Minneapolis protest. 

The state of Minnesota is an open carry state, and there are no restrictions to bringing a legal weapon to a public protest. 

The protests are held publicly outside for any resident to attend. And since the protest is held in no private location, there should be no legal concern as to why Alex carried a firearm with him.

Overall, investigators should instead focus on the law and actions that occurred on the day of the killing instead of nitpicking irrelevant behavior. Nothing on the newfound footage has yet to be connected to the incident, and it seems dissenters are scrapping up anything to defend the murder of Alex Pretti. 

Observers need to view the case objectively. If they do that, they’ll notice that none of Alex Pretti’s actions in the new footage exhibits any reason for him to have been shot and killed on Jan. 24th.