Watsonville residents pack city’s downtown plaza to protest latest Minneapolis shooting, immigration enforcement

Hundreds of people gathered at Watsonville’s downtown plaza Sunday afternoon to denounce the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, who was shot by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis over the weekend. 

“Nobody should be murdered by ICE,” said Kathryne Rockwood, a nurse at Watsonville Community Hospital, who attended the last-minute protest. “I came out today because one of my fellow nurses was murdered — shot five times for trying to protect somebody.” 

Pretti had been recording Border Patrol agents and trying to help other protesters who had been pushed by agents, according to The New York Times. He was tackled to the ground by multiple officials before agents shot Pretti in the back at least 10 times. 

Sunday’s rally, organized by Indivisible Pajaro Valley, also denounced the detention of 5-year-old Liam Ramos in a Minneapolis suburb earlier in the week and the killing of Renee Nicole Good two weeks ago. 

Aptos resident Andrea Reich told Lookout that she’s “unbelievably angry” at what’s happening in the country. “It needs to be stopped,” she said. 

“We are heartbroken, infuriated, shaken to the core,” said immigrant advocacy group Your Allied Rapid Response in a statement published on its website. “We stand together in our resolve to not accept what is happening all across our country, and to do what we can within our rights to protect our community.”

The organization added that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is out of control and is making communities unsafe. “We have seen the videos of community members racially profiled, snatched off the street and denied due process, doors broken down without warrants, and legal observers and bystanders threatened, gassed and dragged from their cars,” the advocacy group said in the statement.

YARR also held a candlelight vigil in Santa Cruz at the downtown clock tower Sunday evening to honor Pretti’s life. 

Community organizers in North County stood in solidarity with protestors in Minneapolis on Friday, holding a rally in front of a Hilton hotel in Scotts Valley. Earlier last week, students at Watsonville High School staged a walkout in protest against immigration enforcement around the country and in the community. 

“We have to stand up against these awful things that are happening within our government and the killing of people in the street for protesting,” said Aptos resident Josie Moss. 

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