Protesters across the state gathered Sunday to speak out against the fatal shooting of a former Wisconsin man by federal immigration officials in Minneapolis.
Alex Pretti, 37, was an ICU nurse at a Veterans Administration hospital. He was killed as he protested the presence of thousands of agents with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol in the Twin Cities. His death Saturday morning came just weeks after federal agents shot and killed Renee Macklin Good.
Pretti was a graduate of Preble High School in Green Bay. At a rally on the steps of the state Capitol on Sunday, Pepe Barros of Madison told the crowd of about 400 people that he had been on a bicycle racing team with Pretti.
“Until yesterday, I was choosing to think that what ICE and the current administration was incorrect, but I was … thinking that was not my problem,” Barros said. “Until it became my problem. Until it was so close that I couldn’t dodge it anymore.”
In addition to direct ties to Pretti, many in Wisconsin have close ties to neighboring Minnesota. Libby Meister of Madison said she attended the protest to show support for loved ones.
“I have friends and family that live there,” she said. “I’m scared. I’m scared for them and for me.”
Amanda Husk of Madison carried a sign that read “Nurses against ICE.” For her, the fact that Pretti was also a nurse made his death resonate.
“As nurses we do everything we can to care for our patients and Alex was absolutely out there caring for the woman that fell,” she said. “He was trying to care for her and his life was taken in a very criminal and inhumane way.”
In videos that circulated on social media, federal agents surrounded Pretti after he checked on a woman who had been pushed to the ground by an agent. Pretti was legally carrying a handgun, which an agent appeared to take from him before two other agents shot Pretti while he was facedown on the ground.
Trump administration officials said agents acted in self-defense and called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” who intended to “massacre” officers. Videos and eyewitness accounts contradict these claims.
For Husk, the goal of the protest is to tell the Trump administration that its approach to immigration enforcement is wrong.
“It is bringing terror; it is harming communities,” she said. “People are being killed. They need to hear that this is not OK, and it has to stop now.”
In Oshkosh, protesters gathered at the Opera House Square. A woman wearing a pink bikini stood along the street, holding a sign that read “It Was Murder.” Other signs read “No ICE” and “ICE = Murderers.”
Emily Tseffos, chair of the Outagamie County Democratic Party, estimated at least 500 people also turned out to protest in Appleton.
In Superior, around 150 protesters gathered at the Douglas County Courthouse. Cars honked their horns as people rang cowbells and held up signs that read “ICE out of Minneapolis” and “Immigrants Belong.”
Ron Petite, who lives on the south shore of Lake Superior, held a sign that read “In Honor of Pretti and Good, Killed By ICE!” His voice shook as he described his reaction to Saturday’s shooting.
“Pretti … was trying to help a lady, for crying out loud. I don’t understand,” he said. “I’m just very upset that our country has come to this.”
Other protests took place Saturday in Green Bay, La Crosse and West Allis. Wyatt Molling, chair of the La Crosse County Democratic Party, said on social media that what’s happening in Minnesota is scary.
More demonstrations are set to be held this week. Earlier this month, hundreds of Wisconsinites in Madison, Milwaukee, Ashland, Green Bay and La Crosse joined thousands in Minneapolis to protest the fatal shooting of Good.
High school classmates remember Alex Pretti as kind, charismatic
In a statement to CNN, Pretti’s family said they were “heartbroken but also very angry” and called the Trump administration’s statements about Pretti “reprehensible and disgusting.”
“Please get the truth out about our son,” they wrote. “He was a good man.”
Several people who knew Pretti told WPR on Sunday they remembered him as a kind person who cared about helping others.
Michael Waak, 37, was a year behind Pretti at Preble High School. Waak, a civil engineer who immgrated to Norway in 2018, said he was a lab partner with Pretti in a biology class.
“He was a very charismatic guy, and also just a very genuine and positive person,” Waak said.
They dissected a frog together and joked around in class. They weren’t close friends, Waak said. But he felt that Pretti, who was older and more popular, showed him kindness in multiple ways — including after Waak came out as gay.
“Alex never changed his behavior to me, he never stopped saying hi, never stopped being friendly,” Waak said. “This popular, well-known person kept on acknowledging me and being friendly to me. It was a small thing, but it’s something that’s always stuck with me.”
This story was originally published by WPR.
