Former spokesperson for the National Rifle Association, Dana Loesch, said she has unanswered questions in the wake of the fatal shooting of a veteran affairs nurse in Minneapolis on Saturday.
Loesch, a conservative commentator and outspoken Second Amendment advocate, appeared on CBS Mornings on Monday to offer her thoughts on the situation.
“When I watch this, I’ve got questions,” Loesch, 47, told co-host Vladimir Duthiers. “Why was there a need for lethal force? I want to know what the officers thought, because obviously, they felt like their lives were in danger.”
Loesch said the video appears to show that 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was legally carrying a 9mm handgun, was disarmed by Border Patrol officers before they shot him. But, she said, a full investigation of the incident is needed before judgment can be made about the agents’ actions.
She also criticized the federal government’s response to the shooting, saying that the administration needs to be “a little careful with language.”
“Language is incredibly important,” she said. “Certain words invoke certain statutes and certain penalties as a result of that. So we have a duty to be very, very careful with the language that we use.”
“I wish that Secretary Noem and others would beware of that,” she continued, “because simply approaching law enforcement with a firearm isn’t indicative of ill intent, nor is it a crime.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has come under fire from both sides of the political spectrum for her rapid defense of ICE agents involved in fatal shootings without waiting for an investigation.
Shortly after the shooting of Pretti on Saturday, Noem and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino said their Border Patrol agents acted in self-defense when they shot the ICU nurse, whom they classified as a “domestic terrorist.”
The two even insinuated that Pretti had been there to “massacre” immigration agents and inflict “maximum damage.”
However, video evidence shows that Pretti had been recording officers on the street when they shoved a woman to the ground.
Pretti stepped in front of the woman to block her from the officers, but was pepper-sprayed and brought to the ground by several agents before he was shot numerous times.
Noem and the DHS used the same rhetoric when ICE agent Jonathan Ross fired three shots into the vehicle of 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Good on January 7, killing her.
Loesch offered her own personal experience of attending protests and interacting with law enforcement while armed, saying she has done so for “many years.”
However, she says, she was never detained or arrested because she did not “insert herself into any kind of federal investigation.”
Impeachment calls for Noem, nicknamed ICE Barbie for her love of cosplaying different law enforcement agencies, have skyrocketed since ICE’s crackdown in Minneapolis.
Even President Donald Trump has started to distance himself from the DHS secretary, refusing to agree with her claims that the shooting was justified.
“We’re looking, we’re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
On Monday, Trump announced that he was sending his border czar, Tom Homan, to Minneapolis in efforts to ease tensions—effectively sidelining Noem.
“He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
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