OPINION:
The shooting of any U.S. citizen will draw headlines for a day or two, as in the case of Renee Good. If the story then becomes how the official response is wrong, it can become a much bigger story, and many Republicans, not just President Trump, have now reversed course (“‘Teflon Don’ finally feels the heat in Minneapolis,” Web, Jan. 28).
But a close examination of the facts shows that the administration, while it tried to spin the narrative, was actually not far off in its initial assessment of the Alex Pretti shooting.
Last week a new video of Pretti emerged, showing him kicking the taillight off a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicle in a protest several weeks ago. Given that Pretti was apparently a regular anti-ICE agitator who destroyed property, the label of domestic terrorist doesn’t seem very far-fetched.
I also looked at some of the more inflammatory language used by the administration, as reported by the media. Often that same media has quoted only the most inflammatory language.
For example, now-former Border Patrol “commander at large” Gregory Bovino said the killing “looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” The words “looks like” have rarely been quoted, with the focus instead being on “massacre” or “maximum damage.”
A lot of pearl-clutching has also been done about the fact that Pretti had a legal gun permit and was not brandishing his gun at the time of his death. That doesn’t make the Department of Homeland Security’s initial statement that he “approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun” any less true.
Harassing officers while carrying a weapon and having two more clips of ammunition (a fact about Pretti not widely being reported) constitute dangerous and highly suspicious activity.
Yes, Mr. Bovino held a disastrous press conference and his black-and-white view of the world makes him a terrible spokesperson. As a result, the administration’s spin failed. But to label it “Orwellian machinery” is a terrible exaggeration.
JAMES RYAN
Silver Spring, Maryland
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