Hundreds of San Francisco bicyclists joined riders across the country Saturday to memorialize Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse and avid mountain biker who was shot dead by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis one week earlier.
The ride took cyclists from the Ferry Building to Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach, then past Crissy Field and through North Beach. The trek coincided with more than 200 memorial rides that drew thousands of cyclists in 12 countries, with U.S. cities including Atlanta, Salt Lake City and Seattle. Bay Area memorial rides also drew cyclists in Oakland, San Jose and Marin.
•Photos: Hundreds of S.F. protesters form banner with message for ICE
The Angry Catfish Bicycle Shop in South Minneapolis, which Pretti frequented, had organized a local “For All for Alex” ride and encouraged other cities to join in solidarity.
“The Trump administration is outrageous, and their enforcement of immigration policies are appalling,” said Henry Hilken of Berkeley, a retired Bay area air pollution control official who participated in the ride. “It’s unfettered lawlessness that the Trump administration seems to apply.”
Pretti, a 37-year-old American citizen and Veterans Affairs nurse, was filming the officers with his phone and helping a bystander before Border Patrol agents pinned him down and shot him 10 times, footage shows.
After the shooting, Department of Homeland Security officials said agents fired at Pretti in self-defense. Videos, however, show that an agent removed a gun from Pretti’s waist before two federal officers began shooting him. Those agents have been placed on administrative leave.
The Department of Justice opened a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting Friday. The FBI will lead the probe. The shooting came just weeks after Renee Good, a 37-year-old stay-at-home mom, was fatally shot by federal agents while in her vehicle in Minneapolis.
“We truly are one in this moment, and we ride for all and Alex,” Jarrod Alder, director of special programs and marketing at Angry Catfish Bicycle, wrote in an email.
Obatola Seward-Evans of New York also joined the San Francisco ride.
“I think what’s happened with ICE is f-ed up,” he said. “It’s important to be communal and show faith. It’s nice to see people coming together and taking a stand.”
Ally Evirs, 49, of Redding, watched the cyclists stream by.
“ICE needs to be abolished,” Evirs said. “The death of Alex Pretti is beyond tragic and not necessary in any way. We’ve reached a horrible point in this country. I’d like to see ICE stopped immediately, and I’d like to see them held accountable for the innocent people they murdered.”
This article originally published at ‘For All for Alex’: S.F. cyclists among thousands worldwide memorializing man killed by agents.