A sprawling memorial to Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old intensive care nurse killed by federal immigration officers Jan. 24, continues to grow in South Minneapolis.
People pay respects to Alex Pretti at a memorial to him on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. Pretti, 37, an intensive care nurse at the Veterans Administration hospital, was killed by federal agents on Saturday. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
The site where Pretti was killed, on Nicollet Avenue near 26th Street, was decorated with hundreds of pillar and votive candles and dozens of flower bouquets and signs left by neighbors and mourners by midday Monday. At the center, Pretti’s name was spelled out in pinecones, one of the first parts of the memorial to take shape late afternoon on Jan. 24 once federal agents had left the neighborhood.
Vigils for Pretti took place Saturday and Sunday evenings at the site, as well as in other neighborhood parks throughout the Twin Cities. At about 6 p.m. Jan. 25, some 150 attendees gathered to sing “Amazing Grace,” “Lean on Me,” and other songs. Neighbors handed out hand warmers, water and other snacks and chanted, “This is what community looks like.”
“Nurse Alex — thank you for your compassion and love toward everyone you have cared for,” read one sign at the memorial Monday.
“The beauty of the world lies in the diversity of its people. RIP Alex Pretti. RIP Renee Good,” one sign read, referring to another Minneapolis resident, a 37-year-old mother, fatally shot by federal agents earlier in the month.
Traffic access to the 2600 block of Nicollet Avenue, which had been closed Saturday and Sunday, resumed Monday.
By 1 p.m. Jan. 24, some four hours after the shooting, the scene itself had largely been cleared save for police tape loosely wrapped around some garbage bins and lampposts. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said it had been blocked earlier in the day from accessing the scene by federal officials, and ongoing disputes remain between federal and local officials around handling evidence.
People pay respects to Alex Pretti at a memorial to him on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. Pretti, 37, an intensive care nurse at the Veterans Administration hospital, was killed by federal agents on Saturday. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Pretti was shot while agents were evidently seeking to detain a man, Jose Huerta-Chuma, whom Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino said had an extensive criminal record including domestic assault. However, the Minnesota Department of Corrections said their records only show misdemeanor-level traffic offenses from more than a decade ago, and that federal agents had briefly detained but released Huerta-Chuma in 2018, during Donald Trump’s first term.
The shooting took place in the heart of the Eat Street restaurant district in Minneapolis’s particularly diverse Whittier neighborhood, where about half the 14,000 residents were people of color as of 2022, according to the city’s demographics data.
Long-running German restaurant Black Forest Inn closed Saturday but opened Sunday and Monday as a community space, offering free coffee and soup as well as an escape from the cold weather.
Banh mi shop Lu’s Sandwiches and Greek restaurant Christos both closed over the weekend but reopened Monday. Good Grocer, a nonprofit volunteer-run grocery store, is hosting “a moment of healing with our neighbors” from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 28 with music, art and snacks.
Glam Doll Donuts, a bakery directly across from the site, opened for limited hours Sunday and announced it would close Monday and Tuesday.
“The experience we had yesterday will haunt us all for life,” owners wrote on social media. “Our love to (Pretti’s) family, friends and community is immeasurable.”
A grilled cheese sandwich, a cup of hot chocolate and a bowl of tomato soup rest among dozens of candles at a memorial to Alex Pretti on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. Pretti, 37, an intensive care nurse at the Veterans Administration hospital, was killed by federal agents on Saturday. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
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