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Shapiro suggests ‘strong case’ to be made in Minnesota for voluntary manslaughter, obstruction

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said Thursday there is a “very strong case” to charge the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer who shot Alex Pretti multiple times on Saturday for involuntary manslaughter.

“I see a case that requires a state investigation and requires the state to decide whether prosecution is warranted,” Shapiro said. he said at an event Hosted by The Christian Science Monitor.

“Based on the publicly available evidence, I think you can make a very strong case for voluntary manslaughter against the federal officer who pulled the trigger multiple times.”

Video of the incident shows Pretti filming immigration officers before trying to help a woman whom an agent had pushed to the ground. At this point he was also pushed to the ground and surrounded by officers; One appeared to disarm him, while the other fired multiple shots at the 37-year-old.

CBP, which oversees the Border Patrol, notified Congress on Tuesday that two agents opened fire during the incident. According to Associated Press.

Shapiro, who previously served as the Keystone State’s attorney general, also said there was “overwhelming evidence” that Border Patrol agents obstructed justice when they failed to secure the crime scene.

“I think you could make a conspiracy claim if there was a clear instruction that the crime scene should be compromised and that you should not participate in an investigation,” the Pennsylvania governor added. “So I think all three of these accusations can be justified.”

But Shapiro said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) and local prosecutors “are not privy to all the evidence” they have regarding the shooting.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took over the investigation An investigation into the incident was launched over the objections of Drew Evans, chief of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which oversees use of force incidents by officers in the state.

In a case Following an order brought by the BCA, a federal judge in Minnesota on Saturday blocked DHS from “destroying or altering” evidence in its investigation.

Meanwhile, White House border czar Tom Homan said at a news conference Thursday that the federal immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota is not “perfect.”

“I don’t want to hear that everything that’s done here is perfect. Nothing is perfect. Everything can be improved, and what we’re working on is making this operation safer, more efficient, by the book,” said Homan, who President Trump sent to the state to run the operation earlier this week.

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