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

Essayli, the first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, wrote: “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.”

Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, was believed to be a “lawful gun owner with a permit to carry,” according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara. Bystander videos show Pretti holding a phone, but nothing appearing to be a weapon appeared in those that circulated in the hours after the shooting.

In response to Essayli’s tweet, the NRA posted on X: “This sentiment from the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California is dangerous and wrong.”

The post continued: “Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”

After receiving significant backlash, Essayli accused another gun rights organization of “adding words to mischaracterize my statement.”

“I never said it’s legally justified to shoot law-abiding concealed carriers,” he posted on X. “My comment addressed agitators approaching law enforcement with a gun and refusing to disarm.

“My 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.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in L.A. referred The Times to Essayli’s post on X clarifying what he initially said. He declined further comment.

Gov. Gavin Newsom joined in the criticism, writing on X, “Wow. Even the NRA thinks Trump’s DOJ stooge in California has gone too far for claiming federal agents were ‘legally justified’ to kill Alex Pretti.”

Earlier, a 2nd Amendment lobbying group, Gun Owners of America, also criticized Essayli.

“We condemn the untoward comments of @USAttyEssayli. Federal agents are not ‘highly likely’ to be ‘legally justified’ in ‘shooting’ concealed carry licensees who approach while lawfully carrying a firearm,” the group posted on X. “The Second Amendment protects Americans’ right to bear arms while protesting — a right the federal government must not infringe upon.”

Essayli’s post received a community note — a crowdsourced fact-check — noting that “the U.S. Constitution (particularly the 2nd, 4th, and 14th amendments) prohibit officers from shooting citizens merely for possessing a weapon that is not an “imminent threat.”

The shooting drew a large crowd of protesters in a city that had already seen widespread demonstrations after the fatal shooting by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7.

Essayli, a former Riverside County assemblyman, was appointed as the region’s interim top federal prosecutor by U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi last April.

Since taking office, he has doggedly pursued President Trump’s agenda, championing hard-line immigration enforcement in Southern California, often using the president’s language verbatim at news conferences.

After a Border Patrol officer fatally shot an armed individual in Minneapolis on Saturday, Democratic governors outside the state jumped to echo Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s condemnation of the Trump administration. 

“Masked federal agents in Minnesota just shot and killed another person. We must put a stop to Trump’s ICE. Now. Stop the funding, stop the occupations, stop the killings,” Democrat Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said on X.

“I am asking my fellow Republican and Democratic Governors across the nation to have a unified response,” he said in a follow-up post. “We must all stand against the lawlessness being inflicted in our states.”

Kathy Hochul, the Democrat governor of New York, also weighed in on X.

ANTI-ICE AGITATORS DISRUPT MINNESOTA CHURCH, SHOUT DOWN WORSHIPPERS DURING SUNDAY SERVICE

“Another horrific outcome from a federal operation that has clearly spun out of control,” she said. “Americans have had enough of lawless conduct masquerading as enforcement. President Trump is responsible for putting a stop to it.”

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Walz called immigration officers “untrained.”

“I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening,” Walz said. “The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”

At a press conference later Saturday, Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino said the officer involved in the shooting was “highly trained” and had been serving as a Border Patrol agent for 8 years. 

Bovino said Department of Homeland Security (DHS) law enforcement officers were conducting an operation targeting Jose Huerta-Chuma, an illegal alien with a criminal history including domestic assault to intentional conflict bodily harm, disorderly conduct and driving without a valid license, early Saturday morning. 

During the operation, another individual approached U.S. Border Patrol agents with a nine-millimeter semi-automatic handgun, Bovino said.

“The agents attempted to disarm the individual, but he violently resisted, fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, a Border Patrol agent fired defensive shots, Bovino said. “Medics on the scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject, but the subject was pronounced dead at the scene.”

President Donald Trump reacted to the incident in a Truth Social post.

“This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go – What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? The Mayor and the Governor called them off? It is stated that many of these Police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves — Not an easy thing to do!” Trump said on TRUTH Social, attaching a photo of a firearm DHS says it recovered from the scene of the shooting. 

Trump then questioned why Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has “$34 Million Dollars in her account,” and asked where “Tens of Billions of Dollars” of Minnesota’s money has gone, apparently referencing recent reports of massive fraud in the state. 

“We are there because of massive Monetary Fraud, with Billions of Dollars missing, and Illegal Criminals that were allowed to infiltrate the State through the Democrats’ Open Border Policy. We want the money back, and we want it back, NOW,” Trump continued. 

Meanwhile, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey demanded that the Trump administration remove immigration enforcement officials from the city. 

BORDER PATROL SHOOTS ARMED INDIVIDUAL IN MINNEAPOLIS, FOX NEWS LEARNS

A Border Patrol member shot an armed individual on Saturday at the intersection of East 26th Street and Nicollet Ave. Minneapolis officials have since identified that person as 37-year-old White man, a resident of Minneapolis believed to be a U.S. citizen.

“I just saw a video of more than six masked agents pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death,” Frey said during a midday press conference. “How many more residents? How many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end? How many more lives need to be lost before this administration realizes that a political and partisan narrative is not as important as American values? How many times must local and national leaders plead with you, Donald Trump, to end this operation and recognize that this is not creating safety in our city?”

Frey said he was tired of local officials being told to turn down the temperature, and that his community members are stirring up “vitriol” in the streets. He demanded that the administration “reflect” on the ongoing chaos in the city, and ask themselves whether they are achieving peace and safety. 

“If the goal was to achieve peace and safety, this is doing exactly the opposite,” he said. “If the goal was to achieve calm and prosperity, this is doing exactly the opposite.”

“So to President Trump, this is a moment to act like a leader. Put Minneapolis put America first in this moment,” he continued. “Let’s achieve peace. Let’s end this operation. And I’m telling you, our city will come back. Safety will be restored. We’re asking for you to take action now to remove these federal agents.”

DHS told Fox News that the suspect was armed with a gun and two magazines. The department said that the officers attempted to disarm the suspect, who then “violently resisted.”

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“Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene,” DHS said in a statement earlier Saturday. “The suspect also had 2 magazines and no ID — this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. Fox News’ Rachel Wolf, Paul Mauro, Bill Melugin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This year’s midterm election already was going to be frustrating for many voters in a vast, rural swath of Northern California whose staunchly conservative district has been redrawn to favor Democrats after the passage of Proposition 50 last fall.

Their longtime Republican congressman, Doug LaMalfa, a rice farmer from rural Butte County who had represented the region for 13 years, had vowed to run again in his newly configured district, despite the long odds.

But LaMalfa died during emergency surgery on Jan. 5.

Now, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom — a vociferous critic of President Trump who is weighing a 2028 presidential run — has chosen the latest day possible under state law for a special election to fill LaMalfa’s seat for the last few months of his term.

In a Jan. 16 proclamation, Newsom set the special election for Aug. 4.

The victor will represent California’s 1st Congressional District with its current boundaries, which stretch from the northern outskirts of Sacramento, through Redding to the Oregon border and to Alturas in the state’s northeast corner.

On June 2, voters will simultaneously cast ballots in the primary for the special election in the current district — and in the statewide primary for the November election for the new districts.

If the winner of the special election primary gets more than 50% of the vote in the primary, he or she will win outright, serving the rest of LaMalfa’s term, which ends Jan. 3, 2027.

“Voters will certainly be confused about the shifting district lines in two elections so close together in time,” Kim Nalder, director of the Project for an Informed Electorate at Sacramento State, said in an email.

She added that the special election is likely to get “fairly low turnout,” with those who do cast ballots being “better informed and more partisan.”

LaMalfa’s death put the razor-thin Republican majority in Congress in further jeopardy, with a margin of just two votes to secure passage of any bill along party lines after the resignation of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene this month.

In California, several Republican-held seats, including LaMalfa’s, were imperiled in the fall when voters passed Proposition 50, which temporarily redraws the state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats. The proposition was a response to partisan redistricting in Republican states including Texas.

State law required Newsom to announce a special election for the remainder of LaMalfa’s term within 14 days of his death. The election had to be conducted within 140 days — or up to 200 days if consolidated with another election.

The governor’s office said that consolidating the special and state primaries was meant to reduce the risk of voter confusion since there are multiple elections with different boundaries.

But Newsom’s decision to leave LaMalfa’s seat vacant as long as possible has infuriated California Republicans. They say Proposition 50 has already disenfranchised voters in a region that has, for nearly a century, talked seriously about seceding to form their own state called Jefferson.

In a Jan. 16 letter to Newsom, the California Assembly Republican Caucus said the state’s rural residents “already suffer from a severe lack of meaningful representation in both Sacramento and Washington D.C.”

They added: “When a congressional seat representing one of the largest and most rural districts in the state is left vacant, it sends a clear message: OUR VOICES ARE NOT A PRIORITY.”

The lawmakers said the unfilled seat has “real consequences for communities that depend on federal advocacy for wildfire recovery, water access, agriculture, healthcare, and basic infrastructure.”

Nalder, at Sacramento State, said it appears Newsom is “continuing to use every tool at his disposal to enable his party to gain advantages in the House” and that the governor “understands the assignment in this new political era.”

Matt Rexroad, a California Republican political consultant and redistricting expert, said of Newsom’s choice to set the special election for August: “There’s no doubt at all that it’s politically driven.”

“He did Prop. 50 to stick it to President Trump and is attempting to deny House Speaker [Mike] Johnson another Republican vote for the rest of the year,” Rexroad said. “All of this is about Governor Newsom positioning himself to run for president.”

Assemblyman James Gallagher, a Yuba City Republican who is running to complete LaMalfa’s term, has said the governor could have called the special election for June 2, with a primary on March 31. Instead, he wrote in a statement last week, the governor “chose to play national political games” and will deny Northern California voters representation “for at least two months longer than what was needed.”

Gallagher announced his candidacy last week with an endorsement from LaMalfa’s widow, Jill, who wrote that “in the midst of our sadness and navigation of such a profound loss, I find myself very concerned about who may replace Doug as our Representative in Washington, D.C.”

“The kids and I believe this is what Doug would have wanted,” she wrote of Gallagher’s candidacy, adding: “James has our full support.”

In an interview Friday, Gallagher, the former Assembly Republican leader, said he was still reeling from the death of LaMalfa, whom he considered a mentor and close friend.

Gallagher said his motto for this election is: Unite the North State.

Because of Proposition 50, the current, deep-red district will be cleaved into three pieces. The northern half will be joined to a coastal district that will stretch all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge, while the southern half will be chopped into two districts that will draw in voters from the Bay Area and wine country.

“Prop. 50 was a big gut punch for us,” Gallagher said. “A lot of people felt like their representation was getting ripped away from them for political reasons — then you lose the guy who’s been your rock for many years. … It is a very difficult time.”

Gallagher will compete in the special election against Democrat Audrey Denney, an education director who unsuccessfully challenged LaMalfa in 2018 and 2020.

Denney will run in both the special election and in the election for the newly redrawn 1st Congressional District. State Sen. Mike McGuire, a Democrat who represents the state’s northwest coast, is among her competitors vying to represent the new district.

Gallagher told The Times on Friday that he had not decided whether he would run for a full term in a new district, “but I would say I’m considering it.”

A funeral service for LaMalfa is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico.

LaMalfa’s staff said attendees will include Johnson, numerous members of Congress and Newsom.