Memorial outside Minneapolis VA hospital honors Alex Pretti
The Minneapolis VA hospital, where Alex Pretti worked, is a place where people go to heal and, today, a place to honor one of those healers.
"It's anger, it's fear, it's deep sadness for our community," said Angela Anderson. "He was the best of us."
It started with one sign laid here by Anderson, who lives nearby, on a cold Saturday night when it was fresh.
"It says, 'Rest in power Alex Pretti,'" Anderson said. "It's heartbreaking."
Nurse Rebekah Nelson used to work in the ICU at the Minneapolis VA hospital, where Pretti cared for some of the sickest in Minnesota.
"The exact same unit; he is a friend of a friend," Nelson said.
She didn't know him personally, but says she didn't have to.
"This was a man you could clearly see from the videos was trying to protect another human being," said Nelson. "That's just how we are, we take care of each other like that."
Yet some things just don't make sense.
"I was just absolutely stunned at the senselessness," said Nelson. "There's nothing that can explain that to me."
A makeshift garden surrounds the glow of candles as a veteran secures her American flag, even when she feels disappointed.
"This is not what I enlisted for. I never thought this would be in my own community," Ashley Watson said, adding it was not the America she knows and loves right now. "I absolutely still love America. I have so much pride. I have even more so pride in Minnesota and how we've stood up to this injustice."
Its something to do and somewhere to go when all else fails.
"Activism doesn't just look like one thing," Watson said. "When it comes together its truly beautiful. It feels like we've seen that a lot in Minnesota."
"We are holding each other tenderly as well as we can in this moment. We will get through it because we always do, but this will not be forgotten," Nelson said.
