DOJ says it opened civil rights investigation into Alex Pretti’s death

The Justice Department has opened a federal civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis protester who was killed last weekend by two federal immigration officers, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday.

Blanche characterized the move as a routine step rather than an extraordinary escalation, describing it as a “standard investigation by the FBI when there are circumstances like what we saw last Saturday.” He said the FBI will lead the inquiry and that lawyers from the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division will be involved if the facts warrant their participation.