Emergency protests popped up across the nation over the weekend calling out the killing of Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents. The 37-year-old was an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital in Minneapolis and grew up in Green Bay.
Sunday in West Allis, over 100 residents took to the streets to make their voices heard about Pretti's death. WUWM’s Jimmy Gutierrez asked protesters what brought them out.
Peyton Hartman, VA nurse
"I'm here today because…I saw a fellow nurse get killed for just exercising his First Amendment right. I'm not really one for protesting too much, but after seeing something like that, I knew I just had to come out here and do something about it because sitting at home isn't going to fix any of this."
On the video showing the death of Alex Pretti: "There's all these thugs that were trying to get on top of her and harm somebody that was out there just practicing their First Amendment right. And what they did is they murdered somebody in the middle of the street. And there's all these politicians online that are acting like nothing happened and that these guys are following the law, which they clearly are not."
Amy Orta, early childhood educator
"So I see it as an educator, families are being torn apart and we can no longer just accept this without doing anything about it. All we're asking is for compassion, for humanity to come back to its natural form."
On the video: "What I saw was someone that had so much compassion that he dedicated his career into nursing. Not just nursing, but in the ICU, which oftentimes you lose loved ones. And then more so, he was serving the vets that are fighting for our freedom. My heart breaks. He did nothing wrong. He did what we hope our sons learn to do when they're a man. You help those that are in need. He was helping someone that was on the ground…and that should not have cost him his life."
Daniel, Filipino-American
"I'm actually the grandson of an immigrant so that's the reason why I came out. And I’m a supporter of the Fourth and Sixth Amendments and believe people have rights and deserve due process."
On the video: "Between Renee [Good], as well as the little that I did see [of Pretti] is that there are so many different points of views, and they were sickening. That should have never happened. And the fact that ICE only gets between six and maybe nine weeks of training, that's not enough training to be wielding a gun and being quote unquote, law enforcement.”
