Four days after federal immigration agents shot and killed intensive care unit nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, some 150 people gathered outside the Jesse Brown Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Chicago Wednesday evening to mourn his death and demand the end of U.S. Immigration and Cu stoms Enforcement. Despite the evening’s bitter cold, attendees huddled together on patches of days-old snow as speakers, from local nurses to elected officials, paid tribute to Pretti and denounced the weekend’s shooting. The vigil, organized by National Nurses United, was the second held outside the local VA center in as many days, with dozens convening at the South Damen Avenue facility Tuesday as uproar over Pretti’s death — the second at the hands of federal immigration officers in Minneapolis this month — mounts. Standing at the outskirts of the crowd Wednesday, emergency room nurse Megan Calcagna said turning out to show support for Pretti and his family was the least she could do. When the 33-year-old Naperville resident, who’s worked as an ER nurse for the past eight years, saw what had happened to Pretti, she was horrified. Moments before the shooting, 37-year-old Pretti can be seen on video presumably trying to help a woman after a federal immigration agent pushed her to the ground. “As nurses,” Calcagna said, “our job is to protect other people.” Two federal agents fired at Pretti on Saturday during the ongoing large-scale immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Prett’s death came on the heels of the Jan. 7 fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good. They were both U.S. citizens. Hours after Saturday’s shooting, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that Pretti “approached” a group of lawmen with a firearm while they were conducting a targeted operation and “violently resisted,” prompting “defensive shots” from Border Patrol. Several published analyses of bystander videos — in which Pretti can be seen with only a phone in his hand — contradict the federal narrative, echoing a familiar pattern by the government, from claims made after Good’s death weeks ago to the two federal agent shootings in Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz. In all three cases, the feds alleged the agents who fired at Good, Marimar Martinez and Silverio Villegas-González had been acting in self-defense. Earlier this month, a Chicago-based law firm was hired by Good’s family to investigate her killing. Meanwhile, citing the recent “executions” of Good and Pretti by immigration agents, Martinez’ lawyer asked a judge on Monday to make public bodycam footage and other evidence from when a Border Patrol shot at her five times in Brighton Park last fall. “Alex is the most recent … (but) he’s not the only one,” Carla Vassilos, 44, said at Wednesday’s vigil, which she attended with her husband and their 6-year-old twin sons. Before heading out to the VA center, Vassilos and her husband spoke with their young sons about Constitutional rights over dinner, she said. It’s been important for them to keep their sons informed, Vassilos went on, adding that they didn’t allow their sons to watch the videos of Saturday’s shooting but explained to them what had happened. “It’s a delicate balance,” Vassilos said, “because you want them to continue to feel safe in our world, in our country … (but) also I really want them to know the reality of what’s occurring.” Wednesday’s candlelight vigil was one of a series of actions organized by National Nurses United across the country this week in honor of Pretti, who worked at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. Actions are spanning 15 states, from California to Maine. “ICE messed with the wrong profession.” National Nurses United wrote on its website. “We nurses will fight to abolish ICE and bring about a vision for a healthy society based on nurses’ values of caring, compassion, and community.” An image of Alex Pretti is is displayed during a vigil outside the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago on Jan. 28, 2026. Federal immigration officers shot and killed Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, in Minneapolis last week. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) Kiley Thompson, a nursing student at Rush University, said Pretti was a testament to “who I want to be as a person.” “That’s why,” the 22-year-old said, “I think so many people go into this career, because we so much want to be helpful to everybody.” It felt right, she said, to come together and celebrate him. Alongside commemoration came pleas for change and justice. Speakers called Pretti’s death a “stain on our democracy,” implored that his and other deaths through the course of the Trump administration’s intense immigration enforcement campaign not be in vain and called for the abolition of ICE. Mayor Brandon Johnson on Saturday put out his own calls for abolishing ICE, while Gov. JB Pritzker called upon Democrats to halt funding for the agency but stopped short of saying it should be dissolved. Democratic senators this week vowed to oppose a funding bill for DHS, a move that could prompt a partial government shutdown by the end of the week should the senators fail to act by midnight Friday. Pritzker, at an unrelated press conference downtown Wednesday, encouraged continued vigilance when asked about advice on filming immigration agents given Pretti’s death. “You can see how important it is that people got out there and filmed what happened, because they were attacking people before they had their phones out, recording, right?” Pritzker said. Gov. JB Pritzker pays his respects after leaving flowers at a memorial, Jan. 28, 2026, for Alex Pretti outside the Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Medical Center in Chicago. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) The governor pointed to the Villegas-González shooting, when agents shot and killed the 38-year-old Mexican citizen and single father during a Sept. 12 traffic stop in west suburban Franklin Park. Despite government officials alleging that Villegas-González critically injured an ICE agent while trying to flee from officers, body camera footage from local police showed that agents described their injuries as “nothing major” just minutes after the shooting. “I think that it’s even more important today,” Pritzker said of recording enforcement activity. “I’ve been saying it, as you know, since the very beginning: Pull out your phone, video everything.” As Wednesday’s vigil drew to a close, organizers ended the night with “The Nightingale Tribute,” a traditional send off for nurses. Line by line, organizers read the testimony as a call-and-response. “When a silent glance could uplift a patient, family member or friend,” organizers read aloud. People light candles at a memorial during a vigil for Alex Pretti outside the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago on Jan. 28, 2026. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) “Alex was there,” attendees shouted back. “At those times, when the unexplainable needed to be explained,” organizers continued. “Alex,” the crowd repeated, “was there.” The Tribune’s Olivia Olander and The Associated Press contributed. [email protected] ...read more read less