They Lied About the Shooting & Got Caught

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit michaelfanone.substack.comHere’s how this works when the government wants the story locked in before the facts show up.A federal agent shoots a man. Within hours, officials roll out the script: violent criminals, attempted murder, heroic officer forced to fire. The headlines hit, the talking heads repeat it, and the public is nudged toward one conclusion before anyone sees a frame of evidence.Then the video surfaces. And suddenly the version we were all fed looks… convenient.The Michael Fanone Show is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Back in January, during the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, ICE agents chased two Venezuelan immigrants in Minneapolis. One of them — Julio Sosa-Celis — was shot in the leg. Almost immediately, federal officials said agents had been “ambushed,” that an ICE officer was attacked by multiple men with a shovel and a broom for minutes, and that the shooting was unavoidable. Prosecutors filed felony charges. Politicians piled on.Now the New York Times has obtained surveillance footage — and it tells a radically different story. Not a three-minute beating. Not three attackers. Not sustained bludgeoning. The encounter is over in seconds, and the shovel—the centerpiece of the government narrative—doesn’t appear to be used the way officials claimed. Minneapolis leadership reviewed the footage and publicly disputed the original description.Here’s the part that should make everyone angry regardless of what you think about immigration: reporting indicates the government had that footage quickly — and yet felony charges were filed anyway, based largely on the agents’ account. If that’s true, that’s not a paperwork mistake. That’s a system choosing narrative over verification.And once the narrative is out there, the collateral damage spreads fast. Protests flare. Enforcement escalates. Families get swallowed by the system. And all the while, the public is still operating off a story that the video doesn’t support.I’m not interested in protecting anyone’s ego or agency brand. I’m interested in the standard.In real policing, you don’t get to work backwards. You don’t decide what happened and then hunt for facts that match your version. Evidence comes first. Video gets watched first. You verify first — because when you get it wrong, people lose years of their lives. Sometimes they lose their lives.And the double standard is the tell. The people who got shot, arrested, jailed, and publicly smeared faced consequences instantly. The people now accused of lying get “review,” “leave,” and a slow-walked internal process that may or may not ever see daylight. That’s how trust dies — not from one incident, but from watching who gets punished fast and who gets protected long.This isn’t just an “immigration story.” It’s a rule-of-law story.If you believe the government should have power to enforce the law, then you should also believe it has a duty to tell the truth about what it’s doing — especially when someone gets shot and prosecutors start throwing felonies around. Because the moment we accept “close enough” as the standard for certain people, we’ve accepted a system where facts are optional and force is the point.Today it’s two immigrants in Minneapolis. Tomorrow it’s someone else the system decides doesn’t deserve the benefit of truth.Ask the question that matters: who approved the initial story, who saw the video, and why were felony charges filed before the evidence was honestly confronted?If you want this kind of work to keep happening — receipts-first, no corporate leash — become a paid subscriber. And if this shook you, share it. Silence is how this becomes normal.🟧 Paid subscribers get 15% off your next merch order🟧 Founding Members get 20% off for lifeYou’ll get the link in your welcome email.GET DISCOUNTS BELOW! ENJOY!