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Nurses hold vigil for man killed by ICE
National Nurses United, the country’s largest union of registered nurses, has mobilized a week of action, hosting vigils to seek justice for Alex Pretti. He was killed by immigration officers in Minnesota.
AUSTIN, Texas - National Nurses United, the country’s largest union of registered nurses, has mobilized a week of action, hosting vigils to seek justice for a nurse killed by immigration officers in Minnesota.
One took place at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Central Austin on Wednesday evening.
What they're saying:
Nurses and community members gathered in honor of fellow health care worker Alex Pretti. Flowers, handwritten notes, and candlelight were placed outside the hospital.
"I was horrified when I watched the video. It was startling, shocking," Monica Gonzalez, a registered nurse at Ascension Seton Medical Center, said. "But when I found out later that he was a nurse, it was gut-wrenching. I cried. It just felt closer to home."
Austin-area nurses, health care workers, and community members took time Wednesday evening to remember one of their own, 37-year-old Alex Pretti.
"This affects us a lot because Alex was a nurse," Gonzalez said. "He went out of his way to protect someone, and that is what we do every day in the hospital. We advocate for not just ourselves, our patients, but our community, and so we are here to honor him."
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Pretti was a Department of Veterans Affairs ICU nurse in Minnesota.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that two federal immigration officers shot and killed Pretti on Saturday, Jan. 24, in Minneapolis, marking the second deadly shooting by federal agents there this month.
The agents reportedly asked people to stay on the sidewalks, but two women began blowing whistles and allegedly ignored the agents' demands. Pretti got caught in the middle.
Minneapolis shooting: Border Patrol fatally shoots Alex Pretti; witness video conflicts DHS
Federal Border Patrol agents fatally shot a Minneapolis man, 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, Saturday morning. This is the third shooting involving federal agents this year, including that fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent on Jan. 7. Find live updates on the story here.
During a struggle, one of the agents yelled, "He has a gun!"
Several shots were fired, killing Pretti.
"His final moments, he was doing what he did every day at work, which was protecting somebody or caring for someone, making sure they were okay before he was okay," Gonzalez said.
Pretti was armed with a SIG Sauer P320 and had a permit to carry.
DHS is taking the lead on the investigation amid calls for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to step down.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Katie Pratt