SALT LAKE CITY — A large turnout of local nurses gathered Thursday night at the State Capitol for a vigil organized by the Utah Nurses Association to honor fellow nurse Alex Pretti, the man killed by federal agents on the streets of Minneapolis.
Dozens of Utah nurses joined with family members, friends and others, including a nurse’s honor guard.
Nurse Luisa Echeverria believed honoring one of their own was the right thing to do.
“It just felt natural to us to honor his service as a nurse and all of the patients that he cared for, particularly the veterans," she said.
“This is quite impressive for us, we weren’t doing it for the numbers, we were doing it to have an opportunity for people who needed to grieve and support to have that place and people really migrated to that vision that we had and keep it at the heart of supporting him," said Brittania Doxstader, President of the Utah Nurses Association.
Having served as a nurse practitioner for nearly three decades, Lee Moss has dedicated his life to the field. He shared how those in the profession have circled the wagons to support the honor and the life of the work of Pretti.
“I think everyone wants to feel like there’s a sense of community and support and this is a great way to do it without involving all the ugliness you see on TV," added nurse Misse Betts.
Following the service, which featured a violin solo and a statement from Pretti's family read aloud, a pile of several hundred white roses was left in memory of one of their own.
