The Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation into the killing of anti-ICE protester Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche revealed Friday.
The newly-revealed probe will be handled by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division as outrage lingers from the caught-on-camera gunfire at the end of a scuffle that left the 37-year-old ICU nurse dead last Saturday.
“We’re looking at everything that would shed light on what happened that day and in the days and weeks leading up to what happened,” Blanche said during a news conference.
The second-in-command to Attorney General Pam Bondi also made clear a similar investigation isn’t warranted in the Jan. 7 death of anti-ICE activist Renee Good, which also took place in Minneapolis.
“There are thousands, unfortunately, of law enforcement events every year where somebody is shot,” he added.
“The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice does not investigate every one of those shootings. It depends on the circumstances.”
The development Friday coincides with the Department of Homeland Security stating that the FBI is now leading the federal investigation into the shooting of Pretti.
The Trump administration previously said Homeland Security Investigations, a section of DHS, was taking charge of the probe.
Now, HSI will provide support to the FBI in that probe, a DHS spokesperson told The Post.
Customs and Border Protection, also under the DHS umbrella, is doing its own internal investigation of the shooting, as well.
Pretti was shot and killed by two Customs and Border Protection agents during a struggle at a rowdy protest against the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrants in Minneapolis Saturday.
Pretti was armed with a handgun – that he was licensed to carry – when he stepped in as agents confronted a female protester, according to footage of the incident.
Federal officers took Pretti’s loaded Sig Sauer pistol from his waistband just before opening fire on him, the video shows.
DHS investigators believe an errant round fired from Pretti’s weapon after it was taken potentially prompted the agents to pull their triggers.
Since the fatal shooting, the White House has pulled back Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino from Minnesota and inserted border czar Tom Homan to take the reins of operations in the Twin Cities.
With Post wires
