{"id":148483,"date":"2026-01-25T02:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T02:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/148483\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T02:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T02:44:07","slug":"top-l-a-federal-prosecutor-faces-blistering-criticism-for-response-to-minneapolis-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/148483\/","title":{"rendered":"Top L.A. federal prosecutor faces blistering criticism for response to Minneapolis shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top Los Angeles federal prosecutor Bill Essayli faced blistering criticism from gun rights groups, including the NRA, after he posted on X <\/a>Saturday about the fatal shooting of a U.S citizen<\/a> in Minneapolis by federal immigration officers.<\/p>\n

Essayli, the first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, wrote: \u201cIf you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, was believed to be \u201ca \u201clawful gun owner with a permit to carry,\u201d according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O\u2019Hara. Bystander videos show him holding a phone, not a weapon.<\/p>\n

In response to Essayli\u2019s tweet, the NRA posted on X<\/a>: \u201cThis sentiment from the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California is dangerous and wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post continued: \u201cResponsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

After receiving significant backlash, Essayli accused another gun rights organization of \u201cadding words to mischaracterize my statement.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI never said it\u2019s legally justified to shoot law-abiding concealed carriers,\u201d he posted on X. \u201cMy comment addressed agitators approaching law enforcement with a gun and refusing to disarm … <\/p>\n

\u201cMy advice stands: If you value your life, do not aggressively approach law enforcement while armed. If they reasonably perceive a threat and you fail to immediately disarm, they are legally permitted to use deadly force.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney\u2019s office in L.A. referred The Times to Essayli\u2019s post on X clarifying what he initially said. He declined further comment. <\/p>\n

Earlier, a second amendment lobbying group, Gun Owners of America, also criticized Essayli.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe condemn the untoward comments of @USAttyEssayli. Federal agents are not \u2018highly likely\u2019 to be \u2018legally justified\u2019 in \u2018shooting\u2019 concealed carry licensees who approach while lawfully carrying a firearm,\u201d the group posted on X. \u201cThe Second Amendment protects Americans\u2019 right to bear arms while protesting\u2014a right the federal government must not infringe upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Essayli\u2019s post received a community note \u2014 a crowd-sourced fact check \u2014 noting that \u201cthe U.S. Constitution (particularly the 2nd, 4th, and 14th amendments) prohibit officers from shooting citizens merely for possessing a weapon that is not an \u201cimminent threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shooting drew a large crowd of protesters in a city that had already seen widespread demonstrations after the fatal shooting by an ICE officer of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good weeks earlier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top Los Angeles federal prosecutor Bill Essayli faced blistering criticism from gun rights groups, including the NRA, after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,54060,8142,7366,21593,8528,73675,1790,73676,734,65890,5767,17283,15157,73674,11931],"class_list":["post-148483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-central-district","tag-comment","tag-criticism","tag-essayli","tag-fatal-shooting","tag-first-assistant-u-s-attorney","tag-gun","tag-gun-right-group","tag-law-enforcement","tag-minneapolis-shooting","tag-post","tag-response","tag-right","tag-second-amendment-lobbying-group","tag-x"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}