Vigil held outside Durham VA after Alex Pretti’s death ‘hit home’ for NC nurses
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- Durham VA nurses organized a vigil for Alex Pretti, drawing several hundred attendees.
- Attendees sang protest songs; speakers condemned agents and called for ICE abolition.
- U.S. senators from North Carolina called for an investigation into the shooting of Pretti.
When she watched video of the moments before a Border Patrol agent shot Alex Pretti, Libby Manly could see the nurse in him.
Manly saw Pretti helping a woman after federal agents shoved her to the ground. She saw, true to the demeanor of a nurse, how calm he was after agents pepper sprayed him in the face. She could also see many similarities in their background.
“When I found out that he was a nurse, and then also that he’s a [Veterans Affairs] nurse — which I am, too — it really hit home,” Manly said. “I mean, it just woke me up in a way that I haven’t been awakened before, and I think that’s what’s happening for a lot of people.”
Manly, a member of National Nurses United (NNU), and her fellow union members were supposed to have a membership meeting Wednesday night. But hearing of Pretti’s death, Manly said she and others thought there could be a better use of their time.
So nurses at the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, backed by NNU, organized a vigil for Pretti outside the medical center’s gates Wednesday night. Several hundred people attended the vigil to honor the second person killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in recent weeks.
While standing in frigid temperatures, they squeezed themselves on the sidewalk leading to the VA Medical Center entrance. They held candles, both electronic and actual, and held signs like “Stop lying. Nurses can spot AFib” as they encircled the several speakers who condemned the shooting and called for the abolition of ICE.
In the days following the killings of Pretti and Renee Good, who was shot earlier this month, the Trump administration characterized both as “domestic terrorists” and accused Pretti of being armed. Pretti had a gun — and was legally allowed to carry — but appeared to be disarmed before federal agents shot him 10 times, according to an analysis by The New York Times.
Both U.S. senators from North Carolina, Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, have called for an investigation into Pretti’s shooting, The News & Observer reported.
At Wednesday’s vigil, speakers and the Durham Ceasefire Chorus, which started in the wake of Israel’s war in Gaza, helped attendees learn songs like “Hold on, hold on, my dear ones, here comes the dawn” and “We are not afraid, we are not afraid, we will live for liberation, ‘cause we know why we were made.”
Durham Ceasefire Chorus member Jess Dickerson said the group comes to rallies and demonstrations when they are asked to sing or the conversation in their Signal chat suggests how important it is to show up. Wednesday night was more of the latter feeling.
“This is how we’re helping our community process grief,” Dickerson said. “And so our monthly ritual gets to be shared in a more public way. And I think it’s nice to be around people. You’re not alone in this grief.”
Chorus founder Kelly Creedon said the group was inspired by the “singing resistance movement” it saw in Minneapolis and took the “we are not afraid” song from The Peace Poets in The Bronx, New York.
“I’m feeling exhausted by just, witnessing the news — and I’m in a position of privilege where I’m not experiencing state violence personally, but I’m just exhausted witnessing it,” Creedon said. “So anything we can do to help support and uplift people who are just feeling exhausted and terrorized and saddened by the news.”
In the Spotlight designates ongoing topics of high interest that are driven by The News & Observer’s focus on accountability reporting.
This story was originally published January 28, 2026 at 10:03 PM.
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