Joliet Mourns Death Of Minneapolis Nurse Alex Pretti: Over 100 At Jefferson Street Bridge Candlelight Vigil

JOLIET, IL — More than 100 people gathered near the Jefferson Street Bridge behind the Joliet Township Government Office on Wednesday night, despite temperatures hovering around 10 degrees, to honor the life and legacy of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old Minneapolis union nurse who died when multiple ICE agents fatally shot him last Saturday morning.

Joliet Patch produced a Facebook Live video chronicling much of the event.

The crowd in downtown Joliet was organized by Pat Meade, a long-time registered nurse and union leader at Joliet's St. Joe's Hospital. Other nurses who spoke at the event said they worked at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox. Those who took to the microphone to address the crowd, denouncing ICE and its aggressive and confrontational tactics, included Joliet Democratic State Rep. Natalie Manley and Suzanna Ibarra of the Joliet City Council's District 5.

Several representatives of the Illinois Nurses Association were in the crowd and spoke at the microphone.

Some of Wednesday night's speakers denounced President Donald Trump and compared his second-term immigration tactics and deployment of ICE to the rise of Adolf Hitler during the 1930s in Germany with the S.S. movement.

Joliet Township Supervisor Cesar Guerrero told everyone that voter polling data has finally dramatically shifted in the crowd's favor — more than 50 percent of the American voters now disapprove of ICE and their tactics. Guerrero said he wants to see that trend to continue, and he won't be happy until the disapproval rate of ICE reaches 100 percent.

As for Pretti, who grew up and graduated from high school in Green Bay, attending Preble High School, a number of people who spoke during the prayer and candlelight vigil referred his death as murder at the hands of ICE and an assassination carried out by ICE.

State Rep. Manley told everyone that "Alex was executed in the street."

"I don't know what the answer is," Manley told her audience. "I want to thank you all for coming out on the cold night. I know we've been watching the people in Minnesota and I've been inspired. Somebody said, do you think this is a Democrat-Republican thing? Honestly, I think people have found their moral breaking point. That people, non-political people, are taking to the streets because what is right and is wrong is so clear and what is happening in Minnesota is wrong.

"So we join here for the same reason not because we're Democrats or Republicans, because we know there's a line between right and wrong and people stand up when bad things are happening. Just like Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

"So I thank you for all being here tonight. Pat Meade, you're a hero in my book," Manley declared.

Before the event ended, the nurses in the crowd made a pledge to carry on Pretti's mission and his passion for offering the best possible care he could for hospitalized patients.