Minnesota students go on strike in honor of Alex Pretti
University of Minnesota students staged a walkout on campus in honor of Alex Preti.
Susan McAllister still sees Alex Preti, her music student for all four years she attended Green Bay Preble High School, standing in the bass section of the choir.
“My heart is broken by Alex’s death. Of course, like everyone else, I am deeply angry,” McAllister said at the Green Bay School Board meeting on Jan. 26. “But I am also very proud of this young man I knew.”
Mr. McAllister was one of seven people to speak at the meeting about Mr. Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal agents on January 24th. They joined the chorus of people publicly remembering him while he was alive.
“Alex was an inveterate helper…I was not at all surprised that his last act on Earth was to help a woman who was brutally thrown to the ground and his last words were, ‘Are you okay?'” wrote Susan Carlson, Preti’s middle school teacher, in a statement read at the assembly.
Preti’s sister, Mikayla Preti, released a statement on January 27, saying her brother “always wanted to make a difference in this world.”
“It’s shocking that he won’t be able to be here and witness the impact he has had,” Mikayla wrote. “All Alex wanted was to help someone, anyone. Even in his last moments on Earth, that’s all he was going to do.”
Here’s what we know about Alex Preti.
Preeti’s sister calls him ‘my hero’
Mikayla Preti said in a statement that being a brother was a “privilege” and that they “had a way of lighting up every room they walked into.”
“Through his work caring for the most critically ill patients at the Veterans Administration and his passion for advancing cancer research, he touched more lives than he probably ever realized,” she wrote. “My brother is and always will be my hero.”
She also criticized the Trump administration’s claims about Preeti’s actions during the confrontation that preceded her death.
Federal officials claimed Preti had a gun that he intended to use to “kill law enforcement.” Video from bystanders and witnesses submitted to the court does not show Preeti brandishing a weapon as she approaches the agents.
Mikayla wrote: “It is heartbreaking to hear the disgusting lies being spread about my brother. My family is deeply grateful to the many people who stood up and helped tell the truth about him.”
Former patients warn Preti to ‘be careful’ about protests
Marta Crownhart, a former ICU patient of Pretti’s at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Hospital, said in a Jan. 26 interview with CNN that the former nurse was “always there for you.”
Crownhart, who also volunteers at the hospital, said it was “difficult” to be near the ICU where Preti worked after the shooting.
“He told me he protested because he felt so strongly about Renee Good’s death,” Crownhart said. “I remember telling him to be careful.”
Like Preti’s sister, Crownhart also denounced Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s claims. After his death, Kristi Noem branded the ICU nurse a “domestic terrorist.”
“The worst part was hearing Kristi Noem talk about him like she was…I hadn’t even seen the video yet and I didn’t know exactly what happened,” Crownhart said. “I think calling him a domestic terrorist is more hurtful than anything else.”
Childhood friends call Pretty “generous” and “kind”
Kristen Radtke, the creative director of The Verge, who grew up with Pretti, described Pretti as “generous, curious, and kind” in an essay for the magazine.
“We rollerbladed, had sleepovers, excitedly dragged our sleeping bags across the street from one house to another,” Radtke wrote of their youth in Green Bay. “When Alex opened his bedroom window, I could hear him singing all the way through my open window. His voice was operatic and powerful, louder than the drone of the suburban weed blowers and lawn mowers.”
She said federal authorities’ claims were “clearly unwarranted to anyone watching the video,” who witnessed him trying to protect his head during the struggle.
“Indeed, he knew from his training as an ICU nurse that protecting his head was important,” Radtke wrote. “Once, when he was 7 or 8 years old and in his old neighborhood, he fell off his bike and his helmet split cleanly in half like a cantaloupe. He showed all the kids in the neighborhood the broken helmet as a way of warning them never to ride without a helmet.”
Who is Alex Preti?
Preti grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, an industrial city located at the mouth of the Fox River and home to the NFL’s Packers. He was involved in youth activities such as the Green Bay Boys Choir. As a young man, he was active in the Preble Players Theater, a performing arts group at Green Bay Preble High School.
He attended the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and graduated in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, society and the environment, according to the Associated Press. Preti went back to school to become a registered nurse and ended up working in Minneapolis, Virginia, according to the Associated Press.
Mr. Preti was shot and killed on January 24 during a confrontation with federal agents in Minneapolis.
Two federal agents fired their weapons during the shooting, according to a copy of the Department of Homeland Security’s internal investigation report obtained by USA TODAY.
The report said officers began firing after the employee yelled “I have a gun” multiple times. It does not say that bullets from members of both agencies hit Preeti. The name of the agent involved in the shooting was not released.
