Hundreds visit memorial in south Minneapolis for Alex Pretti
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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.
It was mostly silent.
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“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.”
— Nicole Ki, MPR News
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