Alex Pretti remembered as friend, nurse and dog dad

Two days after VA nurse Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal agents, we learn more about who he was from his friend.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I’m Juana Summers.

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

And I’m Scott Detrow. The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents on Saturday has inflamed tensions in Minneapolis and across the country. We know that Pretti was 37 years old. He was an ICU nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis, and he was out in the street protesting when he was shot and killed. To learn more about Pretti, we reached out to Heather Zielinski, his friend. They had known each other for more than 10 years. We reached her earlier this afternoon.

Heather, thanks for talking to us.

HEATHER ZIELINSKI: Thanks for having me.

DETROW: Tell me how you knew Alex Pretti.

ZIELINSKI: Alex was a friend. We met when I had moved back to Minneapolis. And we met at a cafe, and then the last time I saw him was at Gigi’s Cafe.

DETROW: Is that how you’d usually get together, over coffee or lunch or something like that?

ZIELINSKI: Yeah. And we would, like, text, and he’d share pictures of his dog, and I would share pictures of my trips and travels, you know?

DETROW: What was he like to talk to? Was he a talker? Was he a listener? Was he funny?

ZIELINSKI: He was a really good balance. He was a great listener, and, you know, you could see the wheels of his brain spinning. And he would have something clever and cute to say, but he would also do this thing where he would, like, fold his arms and kind of, like, put his fingers on his chin and just grin and shake his head, you know? And he had a good laugh and just a really strong voice and, like, a very, like, masculine, positive presence.

DETROW: And we know he loved the outdoors. We also know he had a tough job. He was a nurse in the ICU at the veterans administration. What did he ever say about that job – what he liked about it, what he struggled with?

ZIELINSKI: I actually have a text where he really got into some of the details. He talked about people facing their mortality. And, you know, he worked in an ICU. He worked with veterans, and it was demanding. But he had thought about becoming a doctor or something, but he loved being a nurse so much. He’s like, nah, I’m – this is what I’m going to do…

DETROW: That was…

ZIELINSKI: …You know?

DETROW: …His calling. That was his space.

ZIELINSKI: Yeah. That was his space, and he was good at it, you know?

DETROW: Had you talked since this ICE presence in Minneapolis began? Had you talked about why he had decided to go out and join the protests?

ZIELINSKI: No. But he was proud to see everyone show up and peacefully go to downtown Minneapolis and share with the world that change is needed in America.

DETROW: I want to ask you this next question. I want to ask what you thought and how you felt when you heard Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem call Alex Pretti a domestic terrorist, or top White House aide Stephen Miller call him a would-be assassin.

ZIELINSKI: Liars. Traitors. Cowards.

DETROW: A lot of people around the country, around the world are learning about Alex today – over the course of the last few days. What do you want people to know about him?

ZIELINSKI: He was nothing like what the people you just named said. He was an American citizen. He was a good man. He was a hard worker, and he cared for people. And he cared for nature. He cared for animals and women and other men and his friends and immigrants and, you know, people that have lived here for generations and people that have been here for one or two. He cared about people, and he was just living a good life.

DETROW: It can take a lot of time to work through all the feelings that you feel in a situation like this when you lose a friend. But I’m wondering, over the last few days, is there one memory or one moment of time you spent with him that you’re thinking a lot about?

ZIELINSKI: Well, we just were talking in his kitchen, you know, and he was laughing. And I was looking at the picture of his dog on his refrigerator. She was wearing a little pink tutu. He was just laughing, you know? And when the images of him laying there come to my mind, I don’t push them away because we need to look at that. But I also am grateful that I have that moment, you know, over tea in his kitchen, peacefully, you know, where I can remember his laugh and the tone of his voice, and that he was just a good person and I felt safe being around him. I think we need to keep humanity in front of us and not buy into this narrative that’s being pushed by the people that took his life.

DETROW: Heather Zielinski, thank you so much for talking to us and sharing your memories of your friend Alex Pretti.

ZIELINSKI: Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks for the opportunity to tell the truth about him.