The homicides involving Alex Pretti and Renee Good are a tragedy but the way the government failed to accept responsibility and then defamed the victims by calling them domestic terrorists is an obscenity.

In this state, in New Jersey, any police killing is going to be investigated by state or county law enforcement agencies and I have not seen anyone of those cases that did not go to a grand jury even if the grand jury cleared them.

In the cases of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, the feds are taking the authority away from the state and this has caused an FBI agent to quit, as of this writing.

The defamation and the coverup are an obscenity.

Thank God for the video tape, otherwise the Trump Administration would have made ICE officers victims of an assault. The video tethers everybody to the truth and the facts as opposed to outrageous untruths. I am sick that it exists but grateful that it exists.

In the case of Alex Pretti, after the gun was removed, ten shots were fired where there were six officers surrounding this young man. A nonpartisan and independent investigation should take it to a grand jury and decide on whether to file charges. I have never seen an attempt like this by those authorities involved to walk away from what law enforcement did and then defame the victims of the shooting. That callousness is really inexcusable and reflects the whole attitude of ICE.

What ICE is seemingly trying to do is to block a meaningful investigation by independent state authorities and not cooperating with evidence collection. An independent investigation would include autopsy and ballistics results, body camera results of the incidents and interviews of witnesses on the scene and any officers who were present. All of it is tedious pick and shovel work that must be done to come out with a fair determination for the families and the due process rights of the officers.