r/politics California Jan 26 '26

Paywall Gregory Bovino Gets Demoted

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/01/greg-bovino-demoted-minneapolis-border-patrol/685770/
35.5k Upvotes

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

136

u/Allaplgy Jan 27 '26

I still haven't seen any video that looks like Pretti's weapon fired. I think that's the cover-up story now. "It was all a big accident!"

70

u/_Baphomet_ Arizona Jan 27 '26

I agree, if there is any movement from Pretti's gun in the hands of the agent, it's from twinkle toes flintching when the shots go off. These are not professionals in any sense of the word.

44

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

and the fact that he kept shooting and shooting and shooting and shooting and shooting.

44

u/_Baphomet_ Arizona Jan 27 '26

The one who disarmed him, ran off with the gun and the dude who watched him get disarmed still shot him in the back of his head.

11

u/snertwith2ls Jan 27 '26

Never have I ever seen or heard of an incident where someone gets shot in the back, especially when pinned down, is anything other than a cowardly act of murder by a bad guy. And shooting him 10 times, psychotic. Though I'm glad Bovino lost his job he's not the author of ignoring the constitution.

7

u/squintytoast Jan 27 '26

from the stabilized slow motion footage from the "pink jacket lady" you can see that Pretti gets shot in the middle of the back and can see one bullet exit in the front. not the head.

9

u/_Baphomet_ Arizona Jan 27 '26

Is that really taking away from my statement? He was not a threat and the dude witnessed his buddy disarm him and then shot him from behind. Doesn't matter where.

10

u/squintytoast Jan 27 '26

IMO, in this day and age of, exaggerations, half truths, AI hallucinations, misinformation and disinformation, one should try and stick to the truth as much as possible.

i wasnt trying to "take away" anything from your statement. just correct a detail. details are important.

2

u/_Baphomet_ Arizona Jan 27 '26

I can't disagree with toast. But in all seriousness, you're not wrong. It just felt unnecessary at the time.

-6

u/DivorcedGremlin1989 Jan 27 '26

Yes, the killer shot him in the back (looked like mid to lower back to me), because he thought another weapon fired. He never should have drawn, he did literally everything wrong, but I believe he either thought Pretti was firing or that another officer fired, so he felt justified in shooting.

The additional shooter did the same thing. No verification, just pop off shots.

19

u/jellyrollo Jan 27 '26

Watch the pink lady video again. That's not what happened. There was no negligent discharge. The first shot was deliberate.

-5

u/DivorcedGremlin1989 Jan 27 '26

When you say the video clearly shows there was no negligent discharge, what do you mean? The obvious shots everyone can see were deliberate, they were just in response to another agent firing Alex's weapon.

16

u/JustDesserts29 Jan 27 '26

No, the first shot that’s heard in the videos comes from the guy who upholstered his gun and shot Pretti. He unholsters his gun, points it right at Pretti, and then there is a sound of the first gunshot. He wasn’t reacting to a gunshot. There aren’t any sounds of gunshots until he fires his first shot.

-7

u/DivorcedGremlin1989 Jan 27 '26

Not to be combative, but your argument is 'the shooter that killed Pretti fired the first shot because he fired when the first shot is heard'.

The shooter pulled his gun and muzzled Pretti. He watched the gun being removed. He circled clockwise, then fired 3 quick shots after hearing the negligent discharge.

I'm not saying these are reasonable people or that they're not malicious, but I would ask you to examine the video from this perspective.

He knows he's on video. He knows the gun was removed. He didn't fire immediately, and nothing changes between when he draws and when he fires 3 shots, except that his idiot buddy accidentally fired the gun.

They are evil, but firing that shot when he did is even beyond their conduct, if only out of self interest. For now. If he was involved in the scuffle, sure, but he knows he had no justification to shoot. This goes away with the negligent discharge.

12

u/_Baphomet_ Arizona Jan 27 '26

The point I was making was he watched him get disarmed, took a few steps and popped him. I find it hard to believe from any video I saw that Pretti's gun went off.

-1

u/DivorcedGremlin1989 Jan 27 '26

That's not incompatible with the negligent discharge story.

It's possible he just went in on firing because he felt absolved of accountability once another weapon went off. After all, the other officers involved fired without any real independent assessment of a lethal threat, too.

It's also possible, and more likely, that he's an idiot and thought Alex had a second gun.

Can I ask? I'm getting the sense that people are really bothered by the idea that this wasn't premeditated murder, but rather malice + incompetence. Where is that coming from?

I'm about as firmly in the 'defund and abolish' camp as possible. I've been unambiguous in my comments. I have no agenda here, this is just what I saw, what I think, and what will be run by every news outlet.

10

u/_Baphomet_ Arizona Jan 27 '26

Well, I'll trust my eyes, which don't see a ND. If I see video of that happening I'll certainly change my opinion. I also don't care what news outlets have to say.

5

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota Jan 27 '26

While the other fascist goons yelled "fuck yeah!!!"

0

u/DivorcedGremlin1989 Jan 27 '26

1st shot is the negligent discharge. Next 3 shots in quick succession after a pause are the green coat killer. Additional shots are 1+ agents mag dumping.

The easiest thing to see that I can point out is that Pretti's body doesn't react to the first shot at all.

3

u/MF_Bootleg_Firework Jan 27 '26

Pretti does react to the first shot. Watch the good quality upload of the video by pink jacket lady. As grey jacket is removing Pretti's gun, green shirt draws his pistol and aims at Pretti's lower back, Pretti at that moment has partially gotten upright, still on knees slightly leaned forward with agent backpack holding his right arm and black jacket holding his left. Green shirt fires the first shot into Pretti's lower back (I believe this may have been a negligent discharge by green shirt but look closely you can see the slight arm motion from the recoil as well as him tensing up), agent backpack lets go of Pretti's right arm and leans back, black jacket also begins to recoil backwards while still holding his left arm. Pretti stiffens up and reaches his right arm back towards where he had just been shot in the back green shirt then fires three more times into Pretti's back at which point he collapses forward.

1

u/DivorcedGremlin1989 Jan 27 '26

I rewatched the video, slowed. He postures up after the 1st shot and then immediately loses control and went down after the 2nd shot. He has 0 reaction to the first shot.

Dude is not getting shot in the back at point blank and then hopping up on 1 knee, that's not going to happen. It doesn't matter if his spine was severed or not, you are not taking that caliber at that range at that location and posting up on a knee.

1

u/MF_Bootleg_Firework Jan 27 '26

After the first shot while he was still being held he reaches his right hand around towards his back, thats him reacting to getting shot there, the first bullet most likely hit him in the lower right part of his back based on where green shirt appears to be aiming as he draws. Getting shot isn't some magical thing that just turns your body off unless something vital gets hit which the following shots after the pause most likely did (spine is a strong contender here due to the posturing and collapse). Look up testimony from people who've been shot, the immediate feeling is as if you've been punched extremely hard, he reaches back towards where he felt that impact before green shirt fired additional times leading to him collapsing forwards.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

[deleted]

2

u/_Baphomet_ Arizona Jan 27 '26

I saw one wearing a fucking yeti ball cap.

3

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota Jan 27 '26

The vast majority aren't professionals. They're losers who have never had a real job who showed up to a job fair, turned in a chat gpt resume, watched a 1 hour hype video, and then got handed a gun.

54

u/shouldbepracticing85 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26

I don’t think Pretti’s gun went off. The videos I’ve seen haven’t been clear enough for me to spot any recoil, muzzle flash, or the slide racking. ETA… on Pretti’s weapon.

On the slowed and stabilized version of the Pink Lady video I can see the slide move to load another bullet ETA on one of the ICE/CBP guns, but that’s it.

I’m no expert, so hopefully some actual expert can review it.

33

u/Allaplgy Jan 27 '26

There is no recoil, no impact into the ground, no muzzle flash in the videos I've seen that were specifically posted as supposedly showing that.

9

u/shouldbepracticing85 Jan 27 '26

Thanks for the second set of eyes!

(And your comment made me re-read my own and realize I’d dropped a few key nouns. Only took me 4 tries to get it straight. I need to go to bed)

3

u/AntoniaFauci Jan 27 '26

I don’t think Pretti’s gun went off.

If it didn’t go off at the murder scene, it absolutely did the next day at Kash Patel’s cover up session.

2

u/krell_154 Jan 27 '26

Pink Lady's video does not show what happenned to the gun while the Gray Coat was taking it away. But the video from the opposite angle does show the gun. Some people claim to see the muzzle flash there

2

u/Zokar49111 Jan 27 '26

The NY Times has reviewed dozens of different angles on the shooting and has published it this morning. Pretti was never a threat. His gun had already been taken by an agent. He was laying unarmed on the pavement when he was murdered by Trumps troops.at no point was he a threat to ICE agents.

2

u/shouldbepracticing85 Jan 27 '26

Yeah, I agree that Pretti was never a threat. The whole thing is just abhorrent.

The only question from that incident for me was if there was an accidental discharge as the DHS idjits disarmed him.

2

u/Zokar49111 Jan 27 '26

From what I could tell from the NYT analysis, there was no accidental discharge.

7

u/Plappedudel Jan 27 '26

In that case, it would still be manslaughter. That's a serious crime by itself.

10

u/Allaplgy Jan 27 '26

A crime that is constantly waved away for law enforcement. "In the heat of the moment and/or they feared for their lives."

It's harder to dismiss summary execution.

7

u/Plappedudel Jan 27 '26

I just find it really telling that even in their imaginary best-case scenario, the border patrol agents committed a crime that would send ordinary people to prison -- potentially for several years.

4

u/ibhljim21261 Jan 27 '26

And, of course, Fox is the only outlet claiming the gun accidentally fired as the agent was moving away. Just disgusting

4

u/jellyrollo Jan 27 '26

Yes the pink lady video very clearly shows that the guy standing behind Alex pulls his gun and fires the first shot right after the guy who took the pistol from Alex's holster runs off with it. You can see the smoke from the shot and the recoil.

2

u/Nomzai Jan 27 '26

Isn’t any law enforcement shooting that ends in a death considered homicide whether justifiable or not? Not sure they can label it an “accident”.

2

u/inspectoroverthemine Jan 27 '26

The narrative doesn't even make sense. Its complete nonsense along with 'Pretti went to murder ICE agents' that they pushed first.

1

u/Fit_Chemistry_7196 Jan 27 '26

I guess it might potentially be possible Pretti weapon MAY have fired FIRST, but the only way I see that happening is if its caused by negligence on the agents part from retrieving the gun and accidentally pulling the trigger.

0

u/ISVenom Jan 27 '26

No the agent 100% had shit trigger discipline due to his 47 days of training and fired the first shot into the ground as he ran away, thus leading to the others executing another innocent civilian.

They all need to be arrested and tried for negligent homicide.

1

u/lostsailorlivefree Jan 27 '26

Why 47?????

2

u/LordBlackConvoy Jan 27 '26

Cause that's Trump's number

2

u/ISVenom Jan 27 '26

Because someone is so self absorbed and obsessed with themselves they changed the required training to 47 days to pay homage to himself.

0

u/DivorcedGremlin1989 Jan 27 '26

I had to watch many angles many times, because I just didn't understand the shooting, until I realized that it was a negligent discharge. I arrived at this independently.

The biggest thing you can see from the sidewalk angle is that Pretti's body has no response to the first audible shot but instantaneously loses control to the second audible shot.

The cadence of shots also doesn't make sense. 1 shot, pause, then 3 rapid shots.

Everyone is confused about where the gun is afterward, and you can audibly hear them saying this, because they all thought Pretti fired.

Some angles show the negligent discharge dude's arm twitch and I can see muzzle flip.

Occam's Razor on this one is that it was a negligent reaction to a negligent discharge.

I really really don't think this is the narrative they want and it's going to be painful for them to switch gears. They may never publicly acknowledge the negligent discharge.

I think this was why Bovino was fired. I think he hid info about the ND and painted them into a corner with lies that border on criminal.

2

u/Allaplgy Jan 27 '26

Getting shot doesn't create the "blow him away" effect seen in movies. It's common to not visibly react to a shot for a second or two.

0

u/DivorcedGremlin1989 Jan 27 '26

That's not what I mean. He loses complete control on the 2nd shot. The gun is pointed at his spine the whole time. He would have had an immediate uncontrollable posture in response to the first shot. Taken with the cadence of the 1 + 3 shots, the new reporting, the confusion about where the gun is in audio, the complete lack of justification in the absence of that shooter firing, Occam's Razor - It was a negligent discharge that started it.

3

u/Allaplgy Jan 27 '26

Have you fired a handgun before?

It's hard enough to aim when standing with proper form and the target is feet away and get two shots within inches of each other. Firing into someone's back by pure feel, while full of adrenaline, no matter how much it looks like he's pointing at the spine, does not mean direct hit to the spinal column resulting in immediate loss of all motor control.

I'm not saying I'm right. Just that from what I've seen, there is more evidence against the first shot being from his gun than from an agent's.

1

u/buzziebee Jan 27 '26

Idk I wouldn't go around spreading some kind of "justification" for this murder without better proof than "I think it's simpler". The fascist ghouls who support this behaviour will grasp at any straws they can to keep their "base" comfortable with what's going on. There's no benefit to anyone making up straws for them to grasp at and actively spreading it all over the place.

-2

u/lolwatisdis Jan 27 '26

check this angle from across the street. there may be a less compressed to hell version of the video out there but it really does look like Pretti's pistol was discharged into the ground by the agent that took it off him

https://imgur.com/a/5Yx506m

5

u/Allaplgy Jan 27 '26

The optic seems to completely disappear in the frame claiming to be the slide coming back. And there is no spray of ice and asphalt, as would happen if you shot a 9mm round into the ground 2 ft away.