Near 1,000 folks — many medical professionals in New York — gathered exterior Manhattan’s VA Hospital on Thursday evening to honor the lifetime of Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis ICU nurse shot lifeless by ICE brokers final week.
Photograph by Dean Moses
Near 1,000 folks — many medical professionals in New York — gathered exterior Manhattan’s VA Hospital on Thursday evening to honor the lifetime of Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis ICU nurse shot lifeless by ICE brokers final week.
The large crowd exterior New York Harbor Well being Care on East twenty third Road not solely condemned Pretti’s dying — one which sparked outrage throughout the nation — but additionally honored the way in which Pretti lived. The slain nurse labored at a VA hospital himself, and had come to assistance from a fallen protester moments earlier than he was gunned down.
Pretti was shot lifeless after ICE brokers shoved him to the bottom, bodily assaulted him, and confiscated a gun in his holster that he by no means faraway from his waistband, in a ugly assault caught on a number of movies that went viral. The killing occurred 17 days after Renee Good, a mom of three, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis amid ongoing protests over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown within the metropolis.
At Thursday’s vigil honoring Pretti, the group was so huge that the sidewalk main up East twenty third Road and 1st Avenue couldn’t include them. With candles flicking of their fingers they spilled into the snow-covered roadway, some with tears of their eyes.
On the partitions surrounding the Veterans Hospital, these gathered crafted a makeshift memorial not simply to Pretti and Good, however to others who’ve died in ICE custody.
Photograph by Dean Moses 
Photograph by Dean Moses 
Photograph by Dean Moses
In the course of all of it, one after the other, audio system honored Pretti for the final actions — trying to guard a girl from being pepper-sprayed.
“His parents, Susan and Michael Pretti had asked us to tell the world that their son was a hero. Tonight, we honor Alex,” mentioned Angela Preocanin, a member of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU).
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams took to a podium within the middle of the tightly packed crowd and condemned those that have defended the slaying of Pretti.
“I’m tired of people across the country continuing to make excuses after excuses and not calling what we saw on video is what we saw,” Williams charged. “This is not accidental. This is the byproduct of a MAGA America. This is the byproduct of this type of leadership from Donald Trump. And I’m thankful that people are now saying they are sorry for not speaking out earlier, but I’m hoping we learn the lesson so no more people have to die.”
Throughout one speech, onlookers all of a sudden and spontaneously broke out in chants of “ICE out now!” that lasted for a number of minutes.
Mourners for Pretti swelled to such a dimension that the NYPD used barricades to encompass the group to stop them from spilling additional into site visitors. Along with candlelight, many additionally raised selfmade indicators dubbing Pretti a hero.
Photograph by Dean Moses 
Photograph by Dean Moses 
Photograph by Dean Moses
Within the moments following the vigil, President Trump wrote a scathing Fact Social submit referring to video releases that seem to point out the nurse protesting ICE within the days main as much as his dying. He labeled Pretti an “agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist.”
But others who’ve seen the video of Pretti’s killing mentioned ICE brokers had no justification to commit what many have known as an execution.
“In his last moments, he chose to put himself at the defense of another in our community. That is one of the most honorable things one can do in their life. Alex Pretti should be here today with us. He is not because federal agents chose to unholster his legally owned firearm, remove it from his person and shoot him until he stopped breathing,” mentioned Michael Matos, the founder and president of 5 Borough Veterans.
Photograph by Dean Moses
Photograph by Dean Moses 
Photograph by Dean Moses 
Photograph by Dean Moses
