Alex Pretti’s final minutes, as described by the nearby pediatrician, read like a nightmare: a man shot multiple times, left on his side in the snow while armed agents appeared more focused on counting bullet wounds than checking for a pulse. When the doctor was finally allowed through, they found no heartbeat and began CPR — work that should have started long before. Tear gas soon seeped into nearby homes, forcing residents to flee the very neighborhood where Alex had lived, worked, and protested.
In the days since, Alex has come into focus not as a faceless suspect, but as a VA ICU nurse, environmentalist, and longtime protester who believed showing up in the street was an act of care. His death now hangs over Minneapolis as both a private grief and a public indictment. For the doctor who tried to save him, and for a city still mourning, the question lingers: not only why Alex was shot, but whether anyone in power truly tried to keep him alive.
