“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
That line from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four has been lodged in my mind all weekend as the Trump administration and senior US law enforcement officials described the events leading up to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis – the second American citizen shot dead in the city by federal immigration agents in less than three weeks – even as video footage and eyewitness testimony told a very different story to their preferred narrative.
Today’s newsletter examines what we know about the shooting of Pretti, why Minneapolis has become a flashpoint, and how smartphone footage is undermining the official government line on the killing. Here are Monday’s top stories.
Five big stories
Labour | blocked Andy Burnham’s return to parliament to stave off a potential leadership challenge.
Immigration marched through an East Sussex market town to protest against UK government plans to house asylum seekers on a former military site.
Iran called for the internet restrictions in the country to be lifted.
US Politics assaulted by a man who said Donald Trump would deport him.
UK Politics subverted by the far right .
In depth: A killing on camera and a test of credibility
Alex Pretti was a US citizen, born in Illinois. Photograph: US Department of Veterans Affairs/Reuters
Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse who worked at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital, was shot dead on Saturday during a protest against the administration’s immigration enforcement operation in the city. ICE agents are carrying out an aggressive crackdown that has brought protests, legal challenges and now mounting national outrage. His killing comes just weeks after Renee Nicole Macklin Good , another 37-year-old US citizen, was also shot dead by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis.
What do we know about the shooting ?
Multiple videos circulating online show Pretti filming federal agents on his phone during a protest near downtown Minneapolis. In the clearest footage – in what is a highly distressing video to watch – he appears to come to the aid of a legal observer who had been shoved to the ground by an officer. Moments later, Pretti is pepper-sprayed, tackled to the street and pinned down by several agents.
At least five officers surround him as he lies on the ground. One appears to fire a shot at close range, followed by a volley of further shots. Pretti’s body then goes still.
Two eyewitnesses – a woman who filmed the shooting from just feet away, and a physician who watched from a nearby apartment – later said in sworn testimony that Pretti was not brandishing a weapon at any point. The doctor also said federal officers initially prevented them from providing medical aid, and appeared to be counting bullet wounds rather than performing CPR.
The official version
Senior Trump administration figures offered a sharply different account from what the videos appear to show. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said Pretti approached officers “with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun” and posed a lethal threat. Donald Trump described him as a “gunman”. A senior border patrol commander said the shooting prevented a potential “massacre” of law enforcement.
Those claims were repeated even as video evidence showed Pretti holding a phone, not a gun, and eyewitness accounts directly contradicted the official narrative.
Renee Good poses in an undated family photograph. Photograph: Romanucci & Blandin/Reuters
A similar pattern followed the killing of Renee Good (pictured above) earlier this month. Noem said Good had used her car as a weapon – a claim disputed by local officials and eyewitnesses, and contradicted by video that appeared to show her vehicle turning away as an officer opened fire. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, insisted multiple ICE officers were hurt in the incident, when videos showed no such thing. JD Vance, the vice-president, described Good’s actions as “classic terrorism”.
Good’s mother, Donna Ganger, said “Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known … She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life.”
The fatal shooting of Good by a federal officer took place less than a mile from where George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, reopening wounds in a city already used to protesting law enforcement violence.
What has been the reaction?
The backlash has been swift and wide-ranging.
Politicians including California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, have called for Noem to resign. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused administration officials of justifying Pretti’s death because he was in legal possession of a firearm – while celebrating Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two people during protests in Wisconsin in 2020. Rittenhouse became a cause célèbre for Republicans, and received a standing ovation at a Turning Point USA event where Charlie Kirk praised him as “a hero to millions”. Kirk was shot dead on 10 September last year.
Prominent athletes and entertainers have also spoken out. NBA and NFL players condemned the killing, while actors including Natalie Portman and Olivia Wilde used red carpet appearances at the Sundance film festival to denounce what Portman called an “obscene” moment for the country.
Saturday’s NBA game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors was postponed, with the league citing concerns for public safety.
Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, has said federal agencies should “get the fuck out of Minneapolis”, adding: “How many more Americans need to die before this operation ends?”
And in perhaps the most surprising statement , the National Rifle Association (NRA) has joined other gun lobbying and advocacy groups in calling for a “full investigation” into the killing.
Why Minneapolis – and why now?
LAPD officers beat Rodney King. Photograph: George Holliday
More than three decades ago, the chance filming of Rodney King being brutally beaten by Los Angeles police (pictured above) helped expose a gap between official accounts of policing and what cameras could reveal. Today, smartphones and livestreams have made that gap harder than ever to ignore.
Garrett Graff, a journalist and historian, wrote last week of events in Minneapolis: “This is what fascism looks like – there is no bright line between democracy and autocracy. It’s a spectrum, and not all of the country will experience that switch at the same moment in the same way.”
In Minneapolis, that switch has arrived not as a constitutional crisis, but as heavily armed federal agents on city streets, filmed in real time by the people they police. With Donald Trump repeatedly threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy troops domestically, and federal agents accused of blocking local investigators from accessing crime scenes, there is little sign that tensions in the city are easing.
What is clear is that once again, Americans are being asked to choose between what they are told by Trump’s Maga Republicans – and what they can see with their own eyes.
What else we’ve been reading
Andy Burnham has been denied the chance to stand as an MP. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA
If I hadn’t been writing about Minneapolis, I suspect First Edition would have been about Andy Burnham (pictured above). Peter Walker argues Keir Starmer had no good options – but blocking him is a big risk. Martin
“Perhaps I was a con artist, but I wasn’t a dangerous one …” is how this riveting tale by a writer who spent six months as a telephone psychic starts. It tells a story of loneliness, and our great urge to be listened to, and given answers. Poppy Noor, newsletters team
This interview with Ian Russell , whose daughter Molly took her life in part due to the devastating effects of social media, is engaging because of Russell’s ability to remain clear-headed amid devastating loss. Poppy
“Get a dog! Preferably a rescue one” is one of my favourite reader answers to the question how can we learn from unrequited love? . “It is a terrible feeling, unrequited love ,” however, it hit me right in the feels. Martin
Stuart Heritage’s piece charting the 100 biggest moments from a century of TV has many gems, my favourite being the launch of the first quizshow, Spelling Bee, which pitted seemingly random groups against one another. Who’s your money on between Fleet Street and Rada? Poppy
Sport
Matheus Cunha scored the winner at Arsenal. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Sport 3-2 victory at the Emirates thanks to a goal from substitute Matheus Cunha (pictured above). Aston Villa kept the pressure on at the top by beating Newcastle at St James Park, while Nottingham Forest secured a valuable 3 points in their relegation battle at Brentford.
Tennis defending champion was crushed under the weight of her hefty unforced error count and a spotless performance from Jessica Pegula, the sixth seed.
Cricket lavished praise on Harry Brook and Brendon McCullum after the pair celebrated their first overseas one-day international victory while in charge.
