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Hundreds of people paid their respects to Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old nurse killed by a federal agent at a memorial in south Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon.

Despite frigid temperatures, a crowd quickly grew by noon as more people flooded the block near 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue, some placing cards and flowers in Pretti’s memory. The site was taped off and had a few chairs on the outskirts filled with boxes of hand and toe warmers for visitors.

Many stood around and watched as people added to the memorial; some teared up.

“I just feel for his family,” said Chelsea Schmillen with tears rolling down her cheeks. “Without a name, it’s just another person. But he’s without thought, he’s without breath. He’s not here. I think it just boils down to him being human.”

Susan Rockers was holding a sign that said “Nurses, Our Neighbors! ICE Get Out!”. She was among several health care workers who visited the site to support Pretti, who was an ICU nurse at a VA hospital in Minneapolis, and protest ICE action in Minnesota.

“It's unacceptable what's being done. He should never have died,” said Susan Rockers, a school nurse in the Twin Cities area.

She says she’s heartbroken for the families of Pretti and Renee Macklin Good, a woman who was shot and killed by an ICE agent on Jan. 7 in south Minneapolis. Rockers is disappointed that more is not being done by elected officials.

“I'm a privileged white woman, and I will not be quiet,” she said. “So just everyone know that if I get shot, what they say about me is a lie. I'm an old nurse, and I'm going to continue to stand up for people for the truth.”

The latest on ICE in Minnesota

The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti

Nicole Ki

Author

The south Minneapolis community is mourning the loss of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol officer on Saturday. Pretti is the second person to be killed by federal officers amid an ICE surge in the Twin Cities this past month and the third person to be shot.

Two people cry and hug while in a crowd of mourners.

Carly Danek for MPR News

People stand behind a memorial with a painted "thank-you" sign for Alex Pretti.

Hundreds visit memorial in south Minneapolis for Alex Pretti

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