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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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Congress is being urged to take action to end "extrajudicial executions" in the United States following the fatal shooting of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Abraham Bonowitz, the executive director of Death Penalty Action, wrote a letter to Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, calling for Congress to "take immediate steps to make it painfully clear to the current Administration that the use of deadly force against any person who is not an immediate threat is illegal and will be prosecuted as homicide."
In the letter dated Monday, which Newsweek reviewed, Bonowitz wrote that "when a government official, acting in an official capacity, takes a life when neither themselves or others are directly threatened, whether planned or spontaneous, such action is an extrajudicial execution. Senior government officials lying to excuse such actions is unacceptable."
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He added that no government official is "empowered to serve as judge, jury and executioner."
Bonowitz told Newsweek that videos of Pretti’s shooting show he did not pose a threat when he was shot. A video at one angle showed Pretti "on his knees and facing down, and the officer is pointing his gun at the back of his head," he said, and we "can see it, it's undeniable."
Newsweek has contacted Raskin’s office and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment via email.
Pretti’s death on Saturday was the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen at the hands of immigration law enforcement in Minneapolis this month, just weeks after the January 7 killing of Renee Good, a mother of three, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross.
Investigations into the shootings remain underway and no charges have been filed against the agents involved in either shooting.
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Why It Matters
Protests have intensified in Minneapolis since Pretti’s shooting, which some lawmakers and other people have described as a public execution. The killing has sparked calls, including from several Republicans, for a joint state and federal investigation.
Videos shot by bystanders show Pretti was disarmed before officers opened fire, contradicting early claims from Trump administration officials that agents had fired "defensively" against Pretti as he approached them.
Videos show him holding a phone but he is never seen brandishing the 9mm semiautomatic handgun police say he was licensed to carry. Conflicting narratives also emerged following Good’s shooting weeks earlier, with Trump administration officials saying it was an act of self-defense, a narrative that local and state officials rejected.
What To Know
In the letter to Raskin, Bonowitz wrote that when "a government official, acting in an official capacity, takes a life when neither themselves or others are directly threatened, whether planned or spontaneous, such action is an extrajudicial execution.”
Senior government officials "lying to excuse such actions is unacceptable," he wrote. Bonowitz said Death Penalty Action is calling on Congress to "enact national legislation that ends Extrajudicial Executions in the United States."
Specially, he wrote, the legislation should affirm that the use of deadly force against anyone "who is not an immediate threat is illegal and will be prosecuted as homicide."
He wrote the legislation should also remove "impediments to prosecuting law enforcement officers when there was no legitimate need for the use of lethal violence."
The letter also said the legislation should also ban chokeholds, end no-knock warrants as well as ensure that police-involved shootings are tracked and analyzed, and officers and corrections officials with a track record of "abuse of power" are investigated.
"Death Penalty Action opposes extrajudicial executions as a form of the death penalty, and it must stop," he wrote, adding that "normally such killings by law enforcement officers overwhelmingly target the black community and other people of color."
Bonowitz told Newsweek that "whether it's judicial or extrajudicial, governments should not have the power to kill, except in a situation of absolute preservation of endangered life."
He added: "The question right now has to be how many other incidents occur where nobody is watching or where the video is just a body cam of a police officer and the officer turns it off or somehow it goes away? That's the problem and that's why this legislation is necessary."
Death Penalty Action has also launched a petition calling for lawmakers to act.
On Tuesday, Raskin called on House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, a Republican, to begin impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem or face "a complete oversight and impeachment inquiry" by House Democrats.
Raskin said that under Noem’s leadership, immigration agents "have brutally killed two American citizens, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, depriving them of life and liberty with no due process of law."
What People Are Saying
Abraham Bonowitz, the executive director of Death Penalty Action, told Newsweek that lawmakers must pass legislation to "make it blatantly clear and painful, in fact, for people operating as government officials acting as judge, jury, and executioner when there is no immediate threat to their physical safety."
Representative Jamie Raskin said in a statement on Tuesday: "Under the failed leadership of Secretary Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security has unleashed a shocking assault on the most basic Constitutional rights and freedoms of the American people. Masked agents at ICE and Border Patrol have brutally killed two American citizens, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, depriving them of life and liberty with no due process of law. Far from condemning these unlawful and savage killings in cold blood, Secretary Noem immediately labeled Renée and Alex 'domestic terrorists,' blatantly lied about the circumstances of the shootings that took their lives, and attempted to cover-up and blockade any legitimate investigation into their deaths."
Minnesota State Senator Omar Fateh, a Democrat, wrote on X that Pretti’s killing "was a flat out execution. Horrific and absolutely on the hands of these untrained, untamed agents. Every single one must be held accountable for their actions. We can no longer allow them to continue on their spree."
Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth wrote on X: "Public executions at the hands of the government should never happen in 'the land of the free.' Not one more taxpayer dollar for Trump’s DHS, CBP or ICE."
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said in a statement to CNN on Tuesday that Customs and Border Protection officers in Minneapolis "may not have been following" proper protocol.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Pretti’s shooting was "a very sad situation."
Asked if he thought the shooting was justified, Trump said: "Well, you know what, doing a big investigation, I want to see the investigation. I’m going to be watching over it. I want a very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself."
What Happens Next
Trump said on Tuesday that his administration is planning to "de-escalate a little bit" in Minnesota following the fatal shootings. Investigations into Good and Pretti’s deaths remain ongoing.
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