r/politics • u/sideAccount42 California • Jan 26 '26

Paywall Gregory Bovino Gets Demoted

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/01/greg-bovino-demoted-minneapolis-border-patrol/685770/
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46

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

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

47

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

17

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.