Employees across local hospitals, from medical students to doctors, wore their work identifications on lanyards around their necks. They said Pretti, who was a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at a Minneapolis Veteran Affairs hospital, was doing his job of caring for others in his final moments, with video showing Pretti attempting to help up a civilian<\/a> before seven agents pin him to the ground and shoot him multiple times.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t help but see myself in Alex Pretti,\u201d said Scott Mechanic, a local intensive care unit nurse. \u201cThis is a call to every health care worker, to every union member, to every American, to continue these acts of bravery, to confront ICE, to confront Border Patrol, wherever they show up.\u201d<\/p>\n Pretti\u2019s killing has led to an outpouring of support for the slain nurse as well as mass condemnation of federal immigration operations. Thousands turned out to a protest Downtown Sunday<\/a> to denounce the slaying, and another local vigil for Pretti is scheduled for Wednesday night. <\/p>\n Reports indicate the Trump administration is expected to pull Greg Bovino out of Minneapolis<\/a>, shortly after the controversial Border Patrol commander \u2014 who was found by a federal judge to have lied about prior operations in Chicago<\/a> \u2014 made an unsubstantiated claim that Pretti was planning to \u201cmassacre\u201d agents.<\/p>\n Videos show Pretti being disarmed of a concealed pistol he legally carried<\/a> moments before agents opened fire. Trump has since tried to distance himself from false claims about Pretti, including a White House official calling him a \u201cdomestic terrorist,\u201d<\/a> while some Republicans openly criticize the federal immigration crackdown<\/a> and Trump\u2019s immigration approval ratings sink deeper.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt feels like the tide may be turning and we may be winning,\u201d Mechanic said. \u201cNow that Americans can see the violence.\u201d <\/p>\n Pretti was a member of the American Federation of Government Employees<\/a>, which inspired members of its Chicago branch as well as SEIU Healthcare, National Nurses United, the Chicago Teachers Union and other labor unions to join his vigil Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that America was struck by the gravity of what happened on that street this last Saturday in a way that felt different,\u201d said Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. \u201cBut let me tell you, this should not have caught anyone by surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n A viral video shows Pretti giving a veteran his final salute<\/a> after his death inside the Veterans Affairs hospital where he worked. Pretti\u2019s parents said in a statement<\/a> that he was a \u201cgood man\u201d who \u201ccared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans [for] whom he cared.\u201d Pretti had participated in Minneapolis protests after an ICE agent killed Renee Good Jan. 7, according to the Associated Press.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis hits so close to home, because we work with people like Alex in the hospital every single day,\u201d said Andrew Wilbur, a resident physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. \u201cTo see somebody who cares so deeply about our veterans, who shares the same values of putting patients first only to be killed for fulfilling his commitment to his community, is devastating.\u201d <\/p>\n Daniel Lackemacher, a U.S. Navy veteran, said the federal government is \u201cengaged in warfare against their own people.\u201d <\/p>\n Pretti \u201cwas taking care of us,\u201d Lackemacher said. \u201cWe are under attack.\u201d <\/p>\n Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEDICAL DISTRICT \u2014 Local nurses and military veterans gathered outside Chicago\u2019s veterans hospital Tuesday in a show of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-433880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PrettiFlowers2-1024x683.jpeg\")
Nurses and veterans placed white roses at a memorial for Alex Pretti outside Chicago\u2019s veterans hospital on Jan. 27, 2026. Credit: Mack Liederman\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_3558-1024x683.jpeg\")
A crowd of hospital workers holds signs calling for the abolition of ICE on Jan. 27, 2026, after the killing of Alex Pretti. Credit: Mack Liederman\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n