I have been a registered nurse for over 30 years, many of those spent in the intensive care unit. Although I did not know Alex Pretti personally, there is a deep connection among nursing colleagues. Nurses understand nurses, especially those of us who care for our veterans.
I can assure the layperson that the need to restrain a person does not necessitate inflicting harm, let alone deadly force. Patients withdrawing from alcohol or drugs may become combative, as can patients who are confused or hurt. There have been instances when I’ve had to request help from other nurses, doctors and even security to restrain these patients. At times, sedatives were needed to relax them. I have seen nurses pushed, grabbed, bitten and even punched, but never in over 30 years of nursing have I seen a caregiver injure a patient under these circumstances.
As nurses, it is part of our ethics to do no harm. We are caregivers. It becomes a reflex to come to the aid of those in need. Pretti was a nurse who responded to a woman in need. When he did, he was pepper-sprayed, beaten to the ground by multiple assailants and, finally, shot several times. Not one video shows Pretti fighting or resisting or brandishing his legally registered gun.
Had federal agents cared about human life or been trained properly, they could have made non-deadly choices to mitigate the situation.
If, as a 5-foot-tall nurse, I can practice ways to restrain a person double my size, there is no excuse for these agents to use deadly force. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol are not making America great again.
We are all losing right now. The killing of Pretti is a loss of a human being who mattered and a loss to humanity as a whole.
— Mercirosa de Leon, Arlington Heights
A moment when we see
You know that split second that lives forever? Where the guy on the left is pulling the trigger and the guy on the right is forever suspended between this world and the next? Did you ever think someone would use a famous black-and white image as a metaphor to ponder whether the horror of 1968 Saigon is about to find its expression, its echo, in 2026 America?
At the time, the guy on the left in that photo, South Vietnamese national police commander Nguyen Ngoc Loan, was a “good” guy, an ally. The guy on the right, Viet Cong captain Nguyễn Văn Lém, not so much. Yet, this iconic photo is what finally got many Americans to come to their senses and question the morality of what we were engaged in half a world away in Vietnam. As it turned out, there was a limit for how much insanity and how many lies from our government the American people were willing to put up with.
Today, I am speaking especially to my friends, my family members and my neighbors, those of you who out of fantastic devotion will themselves to un-see and believe whatever the current administration tells them to believe. I’m counting on you now because, though I can still type, take pictures and blow whistles, my hands are tied.
Do we need another grisly moment forever embedded in our collective conscious to finally see?
— Jim Koppensteiner, Niles
Acting like street gangs
The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. This has been the mantra, the gospel of many. Alex Pretti, evidently a good guy and trusting federal officers to behave professionally, died at the hands of a mob of bad guys sporting official good guy attire.
We have seen our federal government acting like street gangs. Ten shots fired at a man on the ground? Three more years of this?
— Bob Quitter, Plainfield
Democracy in action
Here is a huge shout-out to the people of Minneapolis, especially to the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. What courage they have shown in the face of such a brutal assault on them, their city and our country! They have stood firm and strong in the most freezing weather to say that they will not tolerate losing democracy in America. They have shown all of us democracy in action, and I thank them.
I have a new glimmer of hope for us to retain our image of that shining beacon of light to a world in grave need of seeing that democracy is a viable choice to govern.
— Mary Herrick, Gilberts
Alex Pretti’s judgment
I read the articles in the paper about the man who was shot and killed in Minneapolis. According to one article, Alex Pretti’s father told him to not engage or do something stupid. Looks like he didn’t listen.
Carrying a loaded gun with spare ammunition to a highly charged environment and then engaging with a federal law enforcement officer is about as stupid as it can get.
— Loren Monsess, Waterman
Empathy and strength
Alex Pretti was killed protecting a woman shoved to the ground by gun-wielding men; Pretti held hands with hospitalized veterans, dedicating his life to their caretaking; Pretti chose to peacefully protest, courageously seeking justice after the killing of Renee Good.
Our young boys need to see Pretti lionized to offset the destructive cultural message that, to be a man, empathy and strength are incompatible.
— Scott Shallenbarger, Highland Park
Trust requires honesty
Whether it’s retelling the events of Jan. 6, blaming victims for their horrific deaths in Minneapolis or denying the causes and consequences of our changing climate, trust in our nation’s leaders has evaporated. Trust requires honesty and compassion, not spin and falsehoods.
At the end of the service this past Sunday, our church decided to sing four verses of the hymn “We Shall Overcome.” It was emotional, and many of us wept at what’s happening to America.
— Thomas Rausch, Glen Ellyn
What Americans can do
U.S. borders under President Joe Biden are the root cause of the current situation in Minnesota, creating a ripple effect that will last for decades. Those who stood idly by — both politicians and citizens — must take responsibility and stop hindering the solution.
Now, the best thing Americans can do is support federal agents as they perform their duties, ensuring they can do their jobs and return home safely to their families.
— Roberto L. Garcia, Chicago
Carnage has got to stop
Regarding the letter “Media denigration of ICE” (Jan. 26), the letter writer states that the real fault of the immigration mess we are in lies with Joe Biden and others whose actions encouraged the massive volume of illegal entries into the U.S. May I remind the writer that after many years of both parties kicking the immigration can down the road, the Democrats and Republicans of Congress were working on a reform bill in 2024. Then Donald Trump, who was running for office at that time, strong-armed the Republicans to not vote on any reform legislation because he wanted the broken immigration system to be a signature piece of his campaign.
No one wants criminal immigrants who are in our country illegally. Other administrations in the past were able to remove lawbreakers in a peaceful manner. We did not see chaos in the streets.
No one wants men and women, including U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, dragged out of their homes without a warrant after their doors have been rammed in, beaten in the streets or killed by poorly trained federal agents. These are Gestapo tactics.
The carnage we are witnessing is sickening and has got to stop. The whole world is watching.
— Eileen Smith, Minooka
Editor’s note: An earlier version misidentified the victim in the 1968 Saigon execution. The Tribune regrets the error.
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