‘I just couldn’t stop sobbing’: Spokane health care workers march and mourn for slain Minneapolis nurse

A quiet procession of hundreds of health care workers and their supporters crossed through downtown Spokane Wednesday night to remember the nurse killed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Minneapolis.

Organizers of the march said VA nurse Alex Pretti, 37, did what any nurse would do to help someone.

“When they come for one of us, they come for all of us. Four days ago, they came for a nurse in Minneapolis. His name was Alex Pretti. He was an ICU nurse. He cared for veterans,” said organizer and MultiCare Valley Hospital ICU nurse Alex Knox. “He saw a woman get shoved to the ground and he stepped in to help. Moments later, he was dead.”

Video of the incident shows agents shooting Pretti in the back after he was already detained. In the wake of the Saturday shooting, Trump administration officials have claimed without evidence that Pretti, who was legally carrying a concealed firearm, was a “terrorist” who planned to kill federal agents. Pretti never drew his gun, and federal agents restrained him before shooting him in the back 10 times.

Knox could not help but see himself in Pretti. He too is an ICU nurse. His name is also Alex. He would feel an obligation to help someone who might be hurt.

“When Alex saw that woman get shoved to the ground, he did what nurses do. He stepped in. He protected her. Moments later, he was shot for that heroic act,” Knox said.

More than a thousand protesters joined the vigil that crossed from Riverfront Park to the steps of the Spokane County Courthouse. One organizer initially estimated 1,500.

Compared to various anti-ICE protests seen in Spokane for much of the past year, Wednesday night’s march took a solemn, subdued tone. Protesters did not yell out slogans but silently walked across the Monroe Street Bridge with candles in hand.

Medical assistant Jessie Frolich was “appalled” when she saw the video of Pretti’s killing.

“I just couldn’t stop sobbing. He was slaughtered in broad daylight,” she said.

Frolich attended the vigil to show those in power that they should “make enemies of the health care system at their own peril.”

Dental assistant Kathryn Nathaniel said she came to the protest to show hospital workers that Spokane still supports them.

“We take care of everybody’s families, but who is going to take care of us at the end of the day?” she asked. “Health care workers in this country are so underappreciated, to the point of being murdered in the street.”

Amid the public display of mourning was also an underlying hatred of immigration enforcement. Many protesters’ signs called on the agency to be abolished.

“It’s scary to think that now in this time, these acts of violence are being perpetrated by the very institution that should be protecting us. It’s even scary to think that the people perpetrating these murders are doing so in almost complete anonymity,” said nurse Josh Miller.

The agents who shot Pretti have not been identified.

The protest garnered many honks of support from passing by cars and no counter protesters. One man gave a thumbs up through his open car window even as protesters blocked his commute on Monroe Street.

Dr. Kate Wyatt said ICU nurses like Pretti encounter violence every day at work.

“We face violence and agitation. I have watched nurses restrain patients in crisis. They calm families on the worst days of their life. They do this without weapons. They do this without escalation, and this is because the mission is to protect life,” Wyatt said.

“This tragedy is not only a personal loss for Alex’s family and friends, but a wound to our entire community and to the profession that he embodied. It sends a chilling message to every nurse, clinician and health care worker who shows up each day to heal, comfort and save lives,” she said.