Politics

Chicago-Area Nurses and Veterans Honor Alex Pretti, Who Was Killed By Federal Agents in Minneapolis

Medical workers, alongside veterans and community allies gathered Tuesday at Jesse Brown Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center to honor the life of Alex Pretti, the VA nurse who was fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis over the weekend.

“He was taking care of us and in doing so, in acknowledging this care, we acknowledge how his life was so brutally and unjustly ended at the hands of federal agents,” said Daniel Lakemacher, a U.S. Navy veteran and member of About Face: Veterans Against the War.

The U.S. is engaging in warfare against its own people, Lakemacher said.

“Whether it’s shooting people with bullets, whether it’s shooting people with tear gas, or whether it’s cutting the lifesaving care of the VA,” Lakemacher said. “All of these things show us that we are under attack.”

The event was organized by various local unions and organizations including SEIU Healthcare, National Nurses United and About Face Veterans Against the War.

Supporters rallied to demand U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of communities.

“As an ICU nurse, I can’t help but see myself in Alex Pretti,” said National Nurses United member Scott Mechanic. “But I see myself, too, in the many community members in the neighborhood I live who have been abducted by ICE.”

“The violence we are seeing by Border Patrol has been going on for many years,” Mechanic continued. “You’re just seeing it now in our cities and in our communities.”

The fatal shooting of Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse with the VA, has prompted calls for a thorough independent investigation. Trump officials were quick to first cast Pretti as an armed instigator, although videos from the scene and local officials contradict that claim.

Pretti was the second U.S. citizen to be killed by federal agents in Minneapolis this month. The Trump administration began its large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis late last year.

Pretti was born in Illinois and grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Associated Press reported.

The identities of the Border Patrol officers involved in the deadly shooting of Pretti have not been made public.

Veterans Affairs nurses are holding a vigil at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in honor of Pretti and others killed by federal agents, National Nurses United announced.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Eunice Alpasan: [email protected]

---