Quick Take
Nurses at Watsonville Community Hospital gathered Wednesday evening to remember the life of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse who was killed by federal immigration agents Saturday in Minneapolis.
Nurses at Watsonville Community Hospital gathered Wednesday evening to remember the life of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse who was killed by federal immigration officials Saturday in Minneapolis. The vigil was organized by the hospital’s chapter of the California Nurses Association — a local affiliate of National Nurses United, which counted Pretti as a member.
“The government didn’t just take a life. It rewrote it,” said Roseann Farris, a registered nurse at WCH. “They turned a nurse into a threat to justify abuse of power and avoid accountability.”
Pretti was recording Board Patrol agents and helping fellow protesters who had been pushed down by agents when he was tackled to the ground by officers and shot in the back at least 10 times, according to a report by The New York Times.
People who attended the vigil shared their frustrations about the Trump administration’s current crackdown on immigration and its attempt to spin the narrative surrounding Pretti’s death. Others expressed their admiration for nurses and offered words of encouragement.
Wednesday evening’s vigil follows multiple demonstrations in Santa Cruz County in response to intensifying immigration actions in Minnesota and the arrest of a Watsonville man on Jan. 18. On Monday, hundreds of Santa Cruz residents gathered near downtown to protest Pretti’s killing. Last Friday, activists and organizers demonstrated in front of the Scotts Valley Hilton hotel, criticizing the hotel chain for housing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota.
Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz 
Nurses and other employees gathered Wednesday evening outside Watsonville Community Hospital to remember Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse killed by federal agents in Minnesota. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz 
Shanandrea Castro, a registered nurse at Watsonville Community Hospital, was among about 50 people who attended a candlelight vigil at the hospital honoring Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse fatally shot by federal immigration agents during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis earlier this month. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz
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