“These people talk about locking human beings in modern concentration camps the way a hotel chain talks about thread counts.”

At an ICE internment camp in Tacoma run by GEO Group, a guard ruthlessly beat a man named Jeffersonking Anyanwu - a Nigerian student who came to the U.S. to study computer science - for asking to use a computer to file his own immigration appeal. Beat him repeatedly in the testicles. Refused to let medical staff treat him. Then filed a disciplinary report charging Anyanwu with causing the incident.

It was on video. The charges against Anyanwu were thrown out - because a camera caught the guard doing it.

Just over a week later, GEO Group’s chairman George Zoley told investors on their earnings call that 2025 was “the most successful period for new business wins in our company’s history.” $520 million in new contracts. 24,000 people in custody. The “highest level of ICE populations we’ve ever had.”

He did not mention Jeffersonking Anyanwu. He did not mention the ever-increasing number of people who have died in ICE custody this year. What he talked about - for one horrific, callous hour of congratulations and investor backslapping and raw excitement - was how much bigger this is all about to get, and how great that’s going to be for their bottom line.

GEO Group and CoreCivic are the private prison corporations that run most of America’s private ICE internment camps, accounting for 57% of ICE’s captives.

I listened to both companies’ earnings calls and pored over the full transcripts - not the press releases, not the Wall Street analyst summaries, but the actual words these executives and their investors used to describe the business of locking human beings in cages for profit.

Nobody gets detained on these calls - not in the language, anyway. Human beings become numbers and overcrowding becomes “population size records.” A facility filling with human beings is just the “census increasing,” and beds aren’t where people sleep - they’re units of revenue capacity, priced by the day and measured by their profits.

On CoreCivic’s call, CEO Patrick Swindle read the number out like he was reading a quarterly weather report: “an average daily population across all managed facilities of 56,038 individuals.”

Fifty-six thousand human beings. ICE has so thoroughly normalized mass internment - the likes of which this country hasn’t seen since the Japanese internments of 1941, one of the darkest chapters of American history - that a CEO can describe caging 56,000 people and the only question from the room is whether the profit margins would hit 22% or 24%.

And the investors on the other end of these calls? They aren’t pushing back. They’re pushing for more.

An investor from Imperial Capital asked Zoley about the warehouse camp contracts:

“Those are pretty attractive contracts, aren’t they? I mean, in terms of ROI [return on investment], operating those facilities could be a pretty good business, right?”

That’s a Wall Street investment analyst asking whether converting a warehouse into a 9,000-person internment camp will earn profits for his firm.

The same investor, on the CoreCivic call, asked Patrick Swindle:

“Do you see anything on the horizon that would allow detentions to step up?”

- meaning, what might cause more people to be locked up, because that’s what drives the stock price.

Not a single analyst on either call asked about conditions inside the camps, or the people dying in custody, or the lawsuits. The only questions were how fast you can fill the beds and how much money it will make.

An analyst asked Zoley about the government’s plan to buy commercial warehouses across the country and retrofit them into ICE internment camps.

Zoley explained that ICE is running a “dual track” - filling existing private prison beds and scouting warehouse locations. But finding locations is complicated:

“It’s very complicated to find locations in areas that are suitable to their needs and would meet with the less political resistance. You know, you got red states versus blue states issues that you got to solve through.”

He said that on a recorded call, to investors. And later, he went further:

“We’re looking at some sites predominantly in the Sun Belt states, predominantly in red states, to be very frank about it.”

So let me be equally frank.

The chairman of the largest private detention company in America just explained that the strategy for building new ICE internment camps is to put them where people won’t fight back.

Red states. Sun Belt. Communities where they believe the political cost of warehousing human beings is low enough that shareholders don’t have to worry about it.

A warehouse sale in Kansas City was halted days before this call after people showed up and refused to let it happen. So now the industry is doing what it always does - finding the path of least resistance, finding the communities that don’t have the political infrastructure to say no, choosing who gets a camp in their backyard based on who’s least likely to stop it.

The scale they’re planning keeps me up at night, and I don’t tend towards pessimism or alarmism. This exchange between Zoley and an analyst from Imperial Capital was particularly telling:

ZOLEY: “..500-bed facilities, 1,500-bed facilities, and facilities of several thousands of beds - seven, eight, or 9,000 beds per facility… Those are larger numbers than any in existence. I think the largest facility is probably 2,500 beds, not more than 3,000 beds in the country.”

INVESTOR: “Wow. Interesting.”

They are planning camps three times the size of the largest one in the country - converted warehouses, in communities selected for their political compliance, operated by a company with almost no experience doing any of this.

Zoley admitted as much on the call:

“We’ve only had one experience in renovating a warehouse, and that occurred maybe 30 years ago... it was like a 200-bed facility.”

He said it’s “more complicated than you may think,” and that was for two hundred beds, three decades ago. Now GEO is evaluating bids to convert warehouses into camps holding 9,000 people - forty-five times the size of the only warehouse conversion they’ve ever attempted - operated by the company whose guard beat Jeffersonking Anyanwu for asking to use a computer.

That’s who wants to build and run a 9,000-person ICE internment camp inside a warehouse, and dozens more to follow.

While human beings were being beaten, denied medical care, and dying inside ICE internment camps across the country, CoreCivic’s Patrick Swindle got on his own earnings call. And what he told the investors listening is one of the most grotesque things I’ve ever heard a CEO put on record.

“We are confident that the detention beds that we provide are the most humane, most efficient logistically, most compliant, most secure, are readily available, and provide the best value to the government.”

That’s the CEO of a private prison company bragging that they have ‘the most humane’ mass internment camps in America.

He said it the same week a lawsuit described what happened to Javon Gordon at a GEO facility - and amid a growing number of deaths in ICE custody that neither CEO mentioned on either call.

Gordon told guard Berame to stop touching him. Berame and a second guard tackled Gordon and slammed his face into the concrete until he bled from the mouth and the head. Berame climbed on his back. Gordon screamed “I can’t breathe.” They cuffed his hands and legs, kneed him in the ribs, carried him to solitary, put him on suicide watch - he wasn’t suicidal - stripped him naked while a female officer recorded video, took his bed, and left him in a suicide smock. Berame taunted him for a month. A supervisor told Berame to stop. He didn’t.

That’s what they think is the most ‘humane.’ The most ‘compliant.’ The best value to the government.

CoreCivic is the same private prison company that operates the Dilley family internment camp in Texas. Over 6,200 children have been detained by ICE since January 2025, and a lot of them ended up there.

At Dilley, the food is inedible (often worm-infested or moldy), the water isn’t potable and makes kids sick, medical emergencies go ignored, abuse is rampant, and contagious diseases like Covid-19, RSV, and the measles spread unchecked. A case of drinkable water costs upwards of $30 in commissary. Pregnant women have had to forego giving their infants formula because they couldn’t afford water that wouldn’t make them sick.
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Many children at Dilley have been detained for several months, separated from friends, school, pets, and family. Kids have developed depression, anxiety, self-harm behaviors, and other disorders due to the cruelty they have endured. This kind of trauma can cause life-long consequences.
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All the while, executives at for-profit prison companies CoreCivic and GEO Group are ringing in record-breaking profits. Revenue "earned" by keeping children in cages. In what CoreCivic CEO Patrick Swindle calls ‘the most humane’ form of detention.

These people talk about locking human beings in modern concentration camps the way a hotel chain talks about thread counts.

And then a CFO put a price on a human life, out loud, on a recorded earnings call, and nobody on the line flinched.

CoreCivic has nearly 13,000 empty beds ready for ICE. An investor from Noble Capital asked CFO David Garfinkle to dream big about what filling them would look like - “let’s go a little blue sky here” - and Garfinkle did the math out loud, cheerfully, without hesitation:

“If you took 13,000 beds, an average per diem - I don’t know, just say $125 a day - that’s $593 million of incremental revenue. And if you assume we’re on a 23 percent margin in the fourth quarter, that’s $136 million of incremental EBITDA.”

$125 a day. That is what a human being is worth inside an American internment camp. Less than a hotel room. About thirty cappuccinos. That’s what the United States government pays a for-profit corporation to put a person in a cell, feed them, and make sure they can’t leave. That’s what Jeffersonking Anyanwu’s life costs on David Garfinkle’s spreadsheet.

And the 23 percent margin - that’s the distance between what it actually costs to hold a person and what the company charges the government to do it. For every $125, about $29 is profit above operating costs - not reinvested in medical care, not spent on legal access, not used to improve conditions. It services debt, covers executive compensation, and funds the stock buybacks those same executives are using to bet on the growth of mass internment. The human being in the bed becomes a revenue-generating unit whose value to the company depends entirely on them staying in that bed as long as possible.

When an investor asked a CFO to dream big about the future of his company, the dream was filling 13,000 beds with human beings at $125 a head. That’s the blue sky. That’s the dream.

And here is what these companies did while people were being beaten and dying in their camps: they bought back their own stock. As fast as they could. Because they think mass internment is underpriced, and they want in before Wall Street catches on.

CoreCivic repurchased 10 percent of its own company in 2025. GEO bought back 5 million shares. Both boards authorized hundreds of millions more. GEO’s CFO told analysts the stock is “significantly undervalued.” CoreCivic’s said they’d keep buying “at this price.” They are putting their own money - money made from $125-a-day internment of human beings, most who are innocent of any crime - on a bet that the internment camp business is about to get much, much bigger. CoreCivic is projecting 40% earnings growth in 2026, and both companies emphasized that their guidance assumes zero new contract wins - every new contract from here is pure upside.

And the money is already locked in. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act gave DHS $75 billion through September 2029 - $45 billion earmarked specifically for internment.

That’s not subject to annual budget fights. It’s guaranteed funding for four years. The warehouses being scouted in compliant red-state communities are investments. The 9,000-bed camps aren’t temporary.

Between them, these two companies have roughly 19,000 idle beds ready to activate today, tens of thousands more in the warehouse pipeline, and the government wants 100,000.

They are building permanent infrastructure on permanent money, and they’re telling shareholders to buy in now.

This is not a crisis response. It is a four-year business plan with $45 billion in guaranteed revenue. And they are celebrating.

Seventy thousand human beings are inside this system tonight.

One of them is a father who hasn’t held his children since the arrest. One of them is a student from Nigeria who got beaten for asking to use a computer to defend himself in court. One of them will be the next person to die in an ICE camp, and when they do, no one on a quarterly earnings call will say their name.

They will say “census.” They will say “populations.” They will say “beds.”

On a spreadsheet in an investment bank in Nashville, these people are worth $125 a day and a 23 percent margin. On a conference call at a CEO’s mansion in Boca Raton, they’re the “highest level of populations we’ve ever had.”

And the men who keep those spreadsheets - who celebrated record profits while guards assaulted detained men down the hall - just told Wall Street that the best is yet to come.

Samantha Boucher is the founder and Executive Director of Arsenal PAC and creator of ResistMap, a civil watch platform tracking ICE enforcement and extremist activity across the United States.

Last year, our state signed an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to house up to 1,000 ICE detainees at the Miami Correctional Facility. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem called it the “Speedway Slammer.”

The Indiana Department of Corrections invested nearly $16 million in taxpayer money to renovate Miami Correctional. At the time DOC Commissioner Lloyd Arnold stated, “We would not be doing it if there were not a built-in profit.” Unfortunately, based on Indiana Capital Chronicle reporting, Indiana has actually lost millions of taxpayer dollars on this project through March of this year. It’s quite possible that this “built-in profit” that Commissioner Arnold describes never materializes.

I am one of many Hoosiers who speak with ICE detainees at the Miami Correctional on a near-daily basis. In the past three months, two individuals have died there, Lorth Sim and Tuan Van Bui. Congressman Andre Carson stated at a press conference in April that detainees told him during a Congressional oversight visit that one of those deaths occurred in part because Miami Correctional staff did not respond urgently enough to the person’s medical emergency.

For those of us who interact with detainees regularly, these deaths came as no surprise. Detainees regularly report to us that they cannot access basic medical care and that the conditions are the worst they’ve experienced as they’ve often been bounced from facility to facility while in ICE detention.

One might say, “Well, they deserve it. They’re criminals.” In fact, approximately 5% of ICE detainees were ever convicted of a violent crime, while over 70% of ICE detainees have never even been charged with a crime.

One might also say, “Well, they’re illegals. It’s their fault for coming here illegally.” First, it’s important to note that the current administration has taken away legal status from over 1.6 million immigrants and is currently trying to take away legal status from over 330,000 Haitian and Burmese immigrants. Second, there’s no reason to detain non-criminals while they are in deportation proceedings. It’s more expensive for taxpayers, more harmful for children and families, and does nothing to make our communities safer.

The Indiana Organizing Project, which I am proud to lead, has also created a network of volunteers to support local families who have a loved one currently detained by ICE or recently deported. Every single one of these families that we support have US citizen children suffering due to the sudden loss of their parents. Several of the families we support have US citizen mothers who would be out on the streets without the support of our network and our partner organizations. How is this ‘America First’?

While I agree with most Americans that the Biden Administration’s border policies were misguided, that moment has now passed. The border is now secure, and we must decide what to do about the millions of non-criminal, mixed-status families who reside in our country. Mass deportations are an option that results in separating families, traumatizing children, and causing unnecessary suffering to millions of US citizens and other immigrants who are here legally.

I know because I witness this suffering right here in Central Indiana every day. This is not who we are as Hoosiers. Hoosiers value family and the well-being of children. So while racing fans cheered on their favorite drivers at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, we must also bear witness to the unthinkable cruelty our neighbors are enduring inside the Speedway Slammer.

It’s time we stand up for our values. To celebrate our traditions, yes, but to also end the senseless harm occurring through the ICE detention system. It’s time for Governor Braun and his administration to end this sad chapter in Indiana history and close the “Speedway Slammer” once and for all.

By Stuart Mora

Indiana Organizing Project

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An SUV - running, empty, and with no driver. No police or other authorities were on scene. The windshield bore damage that could have been bullet holes, or impacts from a blunt object. The rear windshield was missing entirely.

It’s distressingly common to see vehicles abandoned on the street that were involved in an ICE abduction at this time, but what is not so common is to see a vehicle with so much damage of a suspicious nature.

In a city that has seen federal agents kill two civilians in under a month, where 3,000 ICE and CBP officers have descended for what DHS calls “the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out,” unexplained scenes like this demand investigation.

In the wake of this video being posted, we noted that there has been no official response while rumors have continued to swirl online.

So we investigated.

What We Know So Far

The vehicle is a 2015 Jeep Cherokee (VIN: 1C4PJMCB3FW727378) with Minnesota plates TCZ-862.

On the windshield, written in what appeared to be grease marker: 11-19-25 263477 K-Y (or possibly K-J)—markings consistent with an impound or tow lot's notation system.

Registration records show it was registered on November 12, 2025—exactly seven days before the date marked on the windshield (11-19-25). The vehicle has no salvage history, no insurance incident records, and no impound records we could locate through available databases as of February 1st.

As of writing, the Minneapolis Open Data Portal’s police incidents tracker had not been updated since January 21, 2026, meaning we were unable to identify any reports that way. However, a nearby police camera (operated by Minneapolis PD and provided by Insight LPR) means we have an opportunity to acquire footage of this incident.

As the original livestream has since been taken offline, we needed to confirm the time of the incident to file our requests. We were unable to promptly reach the individual who recorded the video or confirm the original time it was posted, so we conducted sun position analysis and placed the time of the original video at approximately 3:40-3:50 PM local time, based on the sun’s position relative to the intersection and the corner pole.

The Records Requests

On February 1st, 2026, we filed three public records requests with the City of Minneapolis:

DR26-001606 – A request for camera footage from the intersection of Franklin Ave & Nicollet Ave, 3:00-4:00 PM on January 30th, specifically requesting the westbound-facing angle be provided in high definition if available.

DR26-001607 – Any 911 call transcripts involving this vehicle from the surrounding hour.

DR26-001608 – Any police reports related to responding to this scene, as well as any previous reports involving this vehicle that might explain its condition—including whether it was impounded or towed on November 19th, and its condition at that time

We have notified the city that we will be immediately publishing this article to inform the public that these requests have been made, and when we receive a response, we will update this article with the provided information.

What We Don’t Know (Yet)

• What caused the damage to the windshield and rear glass

• Why the vehicle was running with no driver present

• Whether this vehicle was involved in any incident related to Operation Metro Surge

• The meaning of the reference number “263477” and initials “K-Y” or “K-J”

• Whether or not there is a police report or other records related to the incident in the posession of the City of Minneapolis or the State of Minnesota.

Why This Matters

Minneapolis is living through an unprecedented moment. In the three weeks since ICE killed Renée Good—a U.S. citizen—on January 7th, the city has seen:

• National Guard mobilization

• Multiple general strikes

• Over 3,000 arrests by federal agents

• A federal judge finding ICE violated at least 96 court orders

• The resignation of federal prosecutors from the Feeding Our Future case

• The death of a second civilian, Alex Pretti

In this environment, public accountability requires documentation. When we see something that doesn’t add up—an abandoned vehicle with apparent violence damage, no police response, and impound markings from weeks earlier—we have an obligation to ask questions.

We’re not claiming this vehicle is connected to any specific incident. We’re doing what journalists and citizens should do: gathering facts, requesting records, and publishing transparently.

What Happens Next

We’ll update this article when we receive responses to our records requests. If the footage, transcripts, or reports reveal anything of public interest, we’ll report it.

If they reveal nothing—if this turns out to be an ordinary tow yard situation with a mundane explanation—we’ll report that too.

That works in both directions, and that’s why validating reports is a hallmark and a key factor of ResistMap’s National Watchcenter operations. False or incorrect information is important to confirm as true and correct information, both for public trust, but also to ensure that suspicious circumstances are fully investigated and the details revealed to the public during times of crisis.

We have the watch,
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Founder, Arsenal PAC

If you have information about this vehicle or the scene at Franklin and La Salle on January 30th, you can reach us at watchcenter@resistmap.com

The records request filing numbers are: DR26-001606, DR26-001607, DR26-001608. A request for direct comment was also sent to the City of Minneapolis and Minneapolis Police Department.

Yesterday at Fremont High School in Nebraska, a high school student was out protesting when an SUV flying a Trump flag struck them and fled the scene.

The driver probably assumed no one would bother tracking down a vehicle in a small Nebraska town, that it would fade into local news and be forgotten by the weekend.

Our National Watchcenter’s forensic video analyst had the vehicle identified within hours. We traced the registration, and then referred our findings to Fremont Police.

They know who you are.

» What Happened?

A student was standing outside their high school with a sign. Someone decided to ‘disagree’ with their position using a two-ton vehicle.

It doesn’t matter what the sign said. The SUV was flying a Trump flag. The driver hit them and kept going.

In most of the world, driving a car into a protest is classified as terrorism - the United States hasn’t caught up to that legal framework yet, but the word fits whether our laws use it or not.

When you aim your vehicle at someone because they’re holding a sign you don’t like, you’re not making a traffic decision. You’re trying to terrorize them into silence.

We should call it what it is.

» The Climate

Vehicle attacks like this one are a part of a pattern of escalating political violence that’s being normalized from the top down, and the people responsible for that normalization know exactly what they’re doing.

Three weeks ago in Minneapolis, ICE agents shot and killed Renee Good, an American citizen whose only crime was watching them conduct a raid. Since then there have been two more shootings in Minneapolis alone, tear gas deployed against protesters mourning the dead, and the Pentagon has placed combat troops on standby to occupy an American city. Stephen Miller told Minneapolis to “stand down and surrender” - the language you use for enemies in a war zone, now aimed at American civilians.

When the federal government treats protesters like enemy combatants, it sends a message to everyone watching: these people are acceptable targets.

Charlottesville showed us what happens when that message takes root - Heather Heyer was murdered by a car, and the driver eventually faced consequences, but not before vehicle attacks became routine during the Black Lives Matter protests. The pattern is consistent: right-wing extremist violence goes unpunished long enough to embolden others.

That’s what we’re seeing now. Federal agents killing civilians. Private citizens attacking protesters. And a political climate where both feel increasingly permissible because the people in power keep signaling that dissent itself is the enemy.

» Why We Built This

This is exactly why ResistMap exists. When political violence happens, we document it, investigate it, and build a record that can’t be erased or rewritten when the official narrative tries to memory-hole what actually happened. Whether it’s federal agents shooting civilians in Minneapolis or private citizens attacking high schoolers in Fremont, we’re tracking the pattern and building the evidence base for accountability - whenever that becomes possible again.

Fremont PD now has our forensic findings. We’ll be watching closely to see what they do with them, and have the full expectation that the appropriate justice will be served by the legal system.

With over two decades in special operations and counter-terrorism, I know exactly what federal law enforcement looks like when it’s operating within the law. And I know what it looks like when it’s lying through its teeth.

I’m David Dodds, Watch Center Director at ResistMap. My team and I analyzed the video evidence from this morning’s shooting in Minneapolis. Here’s what we found.

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF):

DHS claims Alex Pretti was a violent, armed man who approached CBP officers with a 9mm handgun intent on doing them harm. They claim he intended to “do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” They claim he “violently resisted.”

Every one of these statements is false. We have the video, and in this article, we’ll walk you through a detailed analysis that proves their narrative is a lie.

Who Was Alex Pretti?

Alex Jeffrey Pretti, RN. 37 years old. Minneapolis resident. Registered nurse at the VA, where he spent his days caring for veterans. Avid outdoorsman. Athlete. No criminal record.

This morning, federal agents killed him.

What DHS Says Happened

According to DHS, Pretti approached officers with a handgun “intent on doing them harm” and wanted to “massacre law enforcement.”

That’s the official story. Now let me show you what actually happened.

What the Video Evidence Shows

Our analysts gathered footage from multiple sources – social media posts, people on the ground, and eyewitnesses. We’ve reconstructed the sequence of events.

1. Alex was filming, not approaching with intent to harm

At the beginning of this video, Alex – identifiable by his tan pants, brown jacket, and black hat (highlighted in the red box throughout this article) – can be clearly seen capturing footage with his cell phone as an unidentified federal agent (highlighted in the green box throughout this article) closes in on two peaceful legal observers.

Alex is not approaching anyone. He’s not threatening anyone. He’s documenting.

2. Agent assaults first woman

The federal agent closes in and pushes a woman in a brown jacket to the ground. She was posing no threat. She was recording with her cell phone.

This is the first use of force we see – against an unarmed woman who was simply recording.

3. Alex positions himself protectively

After pushing the woman in the brown jacket, she retreats and stands behind Alex. He attempts to protect her from getting shoved again as the federal agent now approaches a second woman – in a white jacket – before pushing her to the ground as well. She also showed no aggressiveness. She was doing nothing wrong.

Two women assaulted. Alex is trying to shield them from further harm.

4. Hands up. Empty.

After the agent pushes the woman in white to the ground, Alex attempts to step in to protect her from being harmed any further. Look at this image carefully.

He is clearly seen with his hands up and empty, showing that he means no harm.

This is not a man “intent on doing harm.” This is not a man approaching officers to “massacre law enforcement.” This is a man with his hands raised, showing he’s not a threat.

5. Pepper sprayed while compliant

After Alex attempts to protect the women from further harm, the agent deploys OC spray directly into his face.

Think about that for a second. Anyone who’s been sprayed knows – you’re in severe pain, you can barely see, you can barely breathe. Despite all of that, Alex continues to keep his hands raised while filming to show that he is no threat.

He never presented a threat. He never approached them to do harm. He never tried to “inflict maximum damage and massacre law enforcement” like DHS would have you believe.

6. Beaten while not resisting

After Alex is pepper sprayed and taken to the ground, multiple video angles show officers beating on him with their fists and feet. Kicking and punching him mercilessly as he continues to not resist.

During this, Alex tries to cover himself to protect from injury. He does not resist. Both of his hands can clearly be seen in front of his face while he’s on the ground. He is not reaching for anything. He is protecting himself from the blows.

Yes, Alex was carrying a weapon – one he was legally allowed to carry and had a permit for. He was exercising his Second Amendment right while also exercising his First Amendment right to protest and film the activities of federal agents.

DHS would have you believe Alex was a dangerous domestic terrorist – that once he was tackled and being beaten, he reached for his weapon, and that’s why they shot him.

The truth is far more concerning: the weapon was removed BEFORE he was shot.

The federal agent in the image below – identifiable by his grey jacket (blue box) – can be seen disarming Alex by pulling the weapon from his holster. The weapon he was legally allowed to carry.

Alex is disarmed. Remember this moment.

DHS themselves posted a picture of the gun they took from the scene. Look at it carefully. You can clearly see it’s a Sig Sauer model with very prominent white pistol grips, a gold barrel, and the box-shaped Sig Sauer red-dot sight.

These details matter. Remember them.

Now look at this frame from the video

In this image captured from video, we can clearly see that same pistol (yellow box) being removed from the scene by the federal agent previously identified by the blue box. White grips. Gold barrel. Same weapon.

This image was taken BEFORE Alex was shot for the first time.

This agent is walking away from the scene with the same weapon DHS posted to justify their use of deadly force.

Alex Pretti was killed AFTER his legally carried pistol was taken from him.

I’ve seen a lot of bad operations in my career. Bad judgment. Bad intel. Things that went sideways.

This isn’t that. This is officers beating a compliant man, disarming him, and then shooting him anyway. And then lying about it.

DHS is counting on you not looking too closely. They’re counting on the statement being enough. They’re counting on you trusting them.

Don’t.

It’s time this administration holds its officers accountable.

v/r,
David Dodds
Watch Center Director, ResistMap
Chief of Operations, Arsenal PAC

America is in the midst of an increasingly intense civil conflict.

When federal agencies militarize against American cities, when unmarked agents seize citizens in broad daylight, when extremist militias mobilize—the trained analysts and volunteers at the ResistMap National Watchcenter keep the watch, publishing verified incidents & alerts at ResistMap.com.

On this Substack, you’ll find deeper-dive investigations, open source intelligence (OSINT) analysis, notes, and commentary from the expert technologists, former intelligence analysts & emergency managers, and progressive organizers behind America’s first Civil Watch platform.

Please share this post to help keep others informed and to support our vital work.

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Executive Summary

A Border Patrol/ICE operation in Willowbrook resulted in an incident involving shots fired and multiple detentions during the morning hours near a residential area with an active school nearby. Federal agents pursued a gray BMW through the neighborhood that ultimately crashed with front-end damage. According to witness reports, shots were fired during the incident, though it remains unclear whether gunfire originated from the vehicle occupants or federal agents. Three individuals were reportedly detained, though this has not been officially confirmed.

The operation drew a large multi-agency law enforcement response including Border Patrol/ICE agents in full tactical gear (helmets, masks, body armor, weapons), LA County Sheriff’s Department (arriving within 2 minutes from a station 0.5 miles away), and California Highway Patrol. Despite reports of shooting, no medical personnel, ambulances, or fire trucks were observed at the scene, and no injuries were visible.

The incident occurred in a neighborhood with a large immigrant population, approximately 300 yards from a school. Local residents expressed fear and alarm, with children walking to school past the crime scene tape. Community members immediately took to social media to warn families about the ICE presence. Witness Andrew, a local resident out for a morning run, described the heavy show of force as excessive and noted the community’s heightened anxiety about immigration enforcement, particularly given the proximity to schools and the number of families with immigrant parents in the area.

The scene remained active with crime scene tape blocking streets while parents were permitted to walk their children through the cordoned area to reach school. Sheriff’s deputies were observed attempting to de-escalate tensions with concerned residents questioning the federal presence in their neighborhood.

Opening (Studio Anchor)

Anchor: We begin with breaking news in Willowbrook. There has been a shooting involving a federal agent. Eyewitness News reporter David Gonzales just arrived at the scene, authorities are on scene and David is, so he can tell us what’s going on. David?

Reporter David Gonzales - Initial Report

David Gonzales: Hey, good morning, Philip. Yeah, the story is developing as we speak. I’m live here off 126th Street and Mona Boulevard in Compton. And right now, those are unconfirmed reports of a shooting that took place here in this neighborhood, but here off into the distance, you could see big scene right now involving federal agents and the Sheriff’s Office, LA County Sheriff’s Office, is on the scene right now talking to witnesses here on the scene right now.

We have reports that agents were chasing a car here on the scene. I don’t know if Brian, the photographer, could pull pan over to the car. This gray BMW that has front end damage. We’re hearing from agents, or excuse me, witnesses that this car was being chased by possible federal agents at crash and then the people in the car tried to run away. And that’s when something happened here on the scene. We hear that possibly those people have been detained.

But right now, I’m being joined by Andrew. Andrew lives in the area.

Interview with Andrew (Local Resident)

David: And Andrew, you said you were running, you were exercising this morning. What did you see this morning?

Andrew: I did just seen a vehicle too. Sheriff cars had came down southbound from Mona Park. And then eventually, I just seen the lights flickering. So I thought that they had pulled over the vehicle. But then as I come down, that’s what I had seen this whole commotion and then I seen the vehicle park. So I was just like, does that have to be ice? Because a lot of us have immigrant parents. So we’re just trying to be aware of our surroundings and stuff like that. So I was just trying to make sure that if it was to confirm it was ice, and yes, it was. So I was just trying to make sure I put it on social media. It’s just to keep aware of our families and stuff like that, but yeah, apparently.

David: So you see ice agents here. We see some of them are clearly marked with border patrol on their chest. They’re wearing masks. What are you hearing as to what took place? Have you heard anything specific as to what took place involving this car?

Andrew: The only thing was that they were involved in a high speed chase, but that they were chasing the vehicle and then they had shots fired. I don’t know if it was coming from the person from the vehicle or if it was ice agents shooting at the vehicle, but all the speculations of ice agents shooting people and stuff like that, so you know.

David: And seeing this in your neighborhood, obviously seeing federal agents. You mentioned this is a big immigrant population in this neighborhood. What goes through your mind?

Andrew: It’s just scary. We have a school that’s just not that few 300 yards away. So it’s like you got kids that are here, kids that are fearful for their parents to get taken away stuff like that. So it’s very alarming and stuff like that. So it’s very hard.

David: And then when it comes to reports of a shooting, what have you heard? Have you heard anything about a shooting? Did you hear anything?

Andrew: I didn’t hear anything specifically on my run, but the main thing was just that we just got to make sure that no shooting is involved because there are a lot of students and kids around this neighborhood.

Studio Anchor Question

Philip (Anchor): David, before our witness goes anywhere, you know, we’re seeing the federal agents, yes, but we’re also seeing the sheriff’s deputies. I’m kind of curious with his experience, how quickly were the sheriff’s deputies there after all of the shooting and the chase and everything that was going on? Because it seems like they were there pretty quickly.

Response Time Question

David: Right now, Philip wants is asking how fast did the sheriff’s get here? Obviously, this seems to involve federal agents, but how fast were LA County Sheriff’s involved? Were they involved? Were there the ones with the lights on that you saw?

Andrew: Yes. That was sheriff’s. So that was maybe in the media. The sheriff’s station is not that far. So it’s literally like maybe half a mile from here. So within two minutes from when I seen them, that’s when the lights have spewed on. So when I had seen them.

David: And then off to the left, we see two federal agents here with their vest on, their helmets on, their faces covered. We see the guns. What goes through your mind?

Andrew: We kind of just heard him getting out of the car behind us. I just feel like it’s what’s the necessary, like that? What’s the force that you need to do and get so many armored weapons to bring somebody in? It shouldn’t have the need to have you like have the on edge where you’re not to shoot somebody, you know?

David: And right now we heard that they possibly might be people detained. Have you heard anything about that? We heard obviously people try to run away from this car. Did you hear that anyone was detained? Or this is all speculation?

Andrew: So yeah, so it’s mostly what I just heard, but I heard three people were detained and they’re already in the vehicle that’s inside right there.

David: All right, thank you very much, Andrew. Well, we’ll get back to you in a second. Appreciate you, man.

Reporter Summary

David: But as you heard right there from Andrew, he said he was on his run and he spotted this kind of sheriff’s driving in the area with their lights on. So it caught his attention. And then when he got to the corner of 126 and Mona Boulevard, that’s where he saw this big scene involving federal agents here.

When we arrived on the scene, we could tell you that there’s a lot of people walking their kids to school. He mentioned there’s a school nearby. So we saw a cross guard as we made our way here stopping traffic for kids to cross the streets. And that I want to say is maybe three or four blocks from where we’re standing. We’ve seen parents walk their kids with permission from law enforcement through the actual crime scene that’s being blocked off by yellow tape.

So right now as you can tell people are trying to live their normal lives, but also trying to figure out and understand what exactly is taking place here. But all we can say right now is that some sort of a federal immigration raid or enforcement is taking place here in this neighborhood. Right now, according to witnesses, it involved a car that possibly was involved in some sort of chase that ended here a crash. We see front end damage to that car.

Unconfirmed reports of a shooting - we have not been able to confirm any of that here on the ground. And we also haven’t been able to confirm who was detained or if anyone was injured, Philip.

Medical Personnel Question

Philip (Anchor): Well, David, we’re going to stick with this here for a minute. So if Joseph’s bare with us. So we heard a lot about what Andrew saw. We’re looking at a lot of the images you’ve seen. So clearly this has been going on for a minute or two because they’ve got the crime scene tape up and everything. Have you seen or have you heard of anybody that saw medical personnel come by? I don’t see any first responders outside of law enforcement. So has anybody been hurt that you can see?

Final Report

David: And that’s one thing that I did notice when we started hearing reports of shooting is that I have not spotted first responders when it comes to an ambulance or fire trucks here on the scene. All we could see is Sheriff’s vehicles blocking the road. Brian, my photographer says he sees CHP also here on the scene and of course you see kind of these border patrol agents or federal agents in their tactical gear here blocking the road as well.

One thing I can tell you is that when we first arrived we did see a couple of people talking to Sheriff’s here on the scene and they were basically in an argument with them about why they’re here and the Sheriff’s Deputy was kind of trying to calm him down that they’re here kind of just blocking the road, kind of just trying to calm this situation, not trying to incite anyone or make anyone mad.

Obviously it’s developing story. So a lot of people are questioning what’s happening but I could tell you the traffic behind us is a neighborhood street here on Mona Boulevard and people are driving by, they’re slowing down and they’re asking, “Is it ice? What’s happening?” So of course the word is spreading that something is taking place in this neighborhood. And as you heard from Andrew just a few minutes ago he says that there’s a lot of immigrant families in this community. So of course people are living in fear based off what we’re seeing on TV and across the country and here locally as well.

Note: Transcription generated from original ABC-7 Eyewitness News video and may contain mistakes. View the video here.

Key Details

Law Enforcement Present:

• Border Patrol / ICE agents (in tactical gear, masked, armed)

• LA County Sheriff’s Department

• California Highway Patrol (CHP)

Vehicle:

• Gray BMW with front-end damage, crashed

Detentions:

• 3 people reportedly detained (unconfirmed)

Shooting:

• Reports of shots fired (unconfirmed)

• Unclear if shots came from vehicle occupants or federal agents

• No visible injuries

• No medical personnel or ambulances observed on scene

Location Details:

• School approximately 300 yards away

• Sheriff’s station approximately 0.5 miles away

• Sheriff’s arrived within 2 minutes

• Parents walking children to school through crime scene with permission

Community Impact:

• Large immigrant population in area

• Residents posting warnings on social media

• Concerns about ICE/immigration enforcement

• Children fearful about parents being taken