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Health care professionals gathered Sunday to remember and honor Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by federal agents last week. Pretti was a nurse at the VA.

WeCare, the nonprofit Foundation that hosted the event, wanted to provide a space to grieve and honor the loss of a fellow nurse.

WeCare founder Christa Rymal says health care workers don’t always have space to mourn the emotional weight of their work.

“We’re just trying to honor Alex’s last words, ‘Are you okay?’ So this is my and our way of asking our health care professionals, ‘are you okay?’ And we know the answer, but we still just want to provide a place of grief, love, hope, light and truth,” she said.

Since announcing the event on Thursday, Rymal said they had nearly 500 people register to attend in person, with an additional few hundred attending online.  

“Our health care community has been experiencing a very high degree of pain and suffering and sometimes we just need a place where we have time to process that,” Rymal said. 

Speakers included WeCare founder Christa Rymal, social media nurse advocate Nurse Blake and several local health care and faith leaders, along with a performance by Nate Amor.

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The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti

Anika Besst

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Hundreds of health care professionals, their families and other supporters gathered Sunday to remember and honor Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by federal agents last week. WeCare organized the event and said it was to offer a space to grieve, show solidarity and remember. 

Health care workers hold vigil to honor and remember Alex Pretti

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