HENDERSON (KTNV) — New video footage appears to show Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti in a physical altercation with federal agents 11 days before he was fatally shot by federal officers.
The video shows a man who appears to be Pretti kicking a federal vehicle after agents blocked an intersection on Jan. 13. Agents then take him to the ground and fire gas into the crowd. The man walks away with a gun visible in his waistband.
A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson says the two officers involved in Pretti's deadly shooting have been on leave since Saturday. That contradicts comments made by Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino over the weekend.
"All agents that were involved in that scene are working, not in Minneapolis, but in other locations. That's for their safety," Bovino said.
The shooting has intensified tensions in Minneapolis, with calls growing for federal agents to be removed as protests continue. Some of those include nurses walking off the job in support of Alex Pretti.
Nurses hold nationwide vigils for Pretti
The nation's largest union of registered nurses is holding a week of action to honor people killed by ICE, including 37-year-old Alex Pretti. Nurses across the nation have been holding vigils and participating.
WATCH| Shellye Leggett talks to a registered nurse present at vigil for Alex Pretti
At a candlelight vigil in Henderson, registered nurses say they are outraged and saddened by the escalating violence that led to the killings of several people at the hands of federal agents, most recently Pretti, who was a nurse in Minneapolis. They say his death will not be in vain as they fight to protect people at the bedside and in the streets.
For Lisa Cornelius, Pretti's death hit close to home.
"This is absolutely heartbreaking, I can't even describe, I'm sorry, how upsetting this is," Cornelius said.
Cornelius has been a registered nurse in Nevada for 19 years and says Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a veterans' hospital in Minneapolis, could've been any one of the nurses she works with.
"They're hurting and they are scared on a daily basis," Cornelius said.
She and at least 100 others gathered Wednesday in front of St. Rose Siena Hospital in Henderson in support of Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal agents Saturday in Minneapolis.
The rally and vigil was part of an entire week of ongoing candlelight vigils across the nation to not only honor and seek justice for Pretti, but also to ask the U.S. Senate and House to vote no on any spending package that includes funding for ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies.
Medical employees and their families were at Wednesday's event, including Janet Purnell, who says her daughters are both nurses.
"It's very sad to see that we lost one of our own," Purnell said.
She felt it was important to take a stand.
"It was so unnecessary. The brutality of the whole situation was horrendous," Purnell said.
Nurses say they will continue to fight to abolish ICE and bring back a society they say will be based on their core values of caring and compassion.
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