Bovino Sidesteps Question of Whether Alex Pretti Ever Touched His Gun

Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino on Sunday sidestepped crucial questions about the fatal shooting in Minneapolis involving a CBP agent over the weekend, seemingly backtracking on his previous statement that the deceased planned to “massacre law enforcement.”

In particular, Bovino declined to answer questions from CNN host Dana Bash about whether the man in question, identified as 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti, drew or otherwise threatened to use a gun that federal authorities have alleged he was carrying — suggesting that his presence at the scene alone was evidence of ill-intent towards officers.

“It’s too bad the consequences had to be paid because he injected himself into that crime scene,” Bovino said.

When asked whether Pretti drew his gun prior to the shooting, Bovino said, “We’re not going to adjudicate that here on TV in one freeze frame.”

“We don’t know the agent was taking any gun away – we don’t know that,” he added, while being shown a video of an officer appearing to disarm Pretti before officers opened fire on him.

Pretti’s death comes almost three weeks after immigration officers in the state shot and killed another resident, Renee Nicole Good. Since Good’s death, Minneapolis has seen daily protests, some in subzero temperatures, calling for an end to the Trump administration’s draconian immigration operation in the state.

Pretti, an intensive care nurse, had a permit to carry a concealed firearm, state officials revealed after the shooting. In the hours following the incident, the Department of Homeland Security began circulating a photograph of a weapon it claimed belonged to Pretti, saying he was on a quest to harm officers and interfere with their duties.

Gun rights groups, including the National Rifle Association, spoke out after the shooting in defense of Americans’ right to carry weapons without being assumed as threats.

Bovino was not the only Trump administration official who appeared to backtrack from the administration’s claims that Pretti was “brandishing” a weapon — as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has claimed.

In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche also said it remains unclear whether Pretti drew the weapon before he was shot.

“I do not know, and nobody else knows either,” Blanche said. “That’s why we’re doing an investigation.”

“There’s nothing wrong with anybody lawfully carrying firearms, but whether he was disarmed or whether he pulled the gun on law enforcement, whether law enforcement saw him go for the gun,” Blanche continued. “What they [law enforcement] have to do is they have to protect themselves.”

Bovino, dressed in uniform, told CNN the officers involved in Saturday’s shooting are still on the job and will be reassigned to another location. He also made several references to an active investigation — though state and local officials reported Saturday evening they had been restricted from the crime scene and effectively barred from beginning their own probe.