Neighborhood where Alex Pretti was killed considers permanent memorial

Reid Forgrave, Star Tribune on Sep 21, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MINNEAPOLIS — On the morning Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, Jadah Green stood in the bitter January cold as a pitched battle between federal agents and protesters unfolded.

She wiped tear gas from her eyes. She filmed ICE agents grabbing people from cars. The moment felt earth-shattering.

By the next day, a memorial for Pretti spilled onto Nicollet Avenue at the spot where the VA nurse was killed in the Whittier neighborhood, a block from Green’s home. She began her ongoing role as one of its caretakers.

Nearly every morning since, Green has cleaned trash, straightened signs and picked up tipped vases at the makeshift memorial.

On Saturday, nearly eight months after Pretti’s killing, Green, an artist and a project manager at the University of Minnesota, stood at the entry of a yoga studio where neighbors joined in the first public gathering to plan a permanent memorial to Pretti.

Organized by the Whittier Alliance, the meeting didn’t dictate what a memorial should look like, or even where it should be located: at the exact spot of Pretti’s killing, or a less trafficked location?

Instead, neighbors drank coffee, ate Glam Doll donuts and pasted sticky notes onto butcher paper to tease out a vision of a future tribute.

“I’d like to see the whole block filled with public art telling the story not just of Alex but about Metro Surge,” Green said. “What happened here happened not just to Alex but to this whole community. This really horrific thing happened, and yet through that, I feel deeply connected to my neighbors. I feel really safe here. Because I trust my neighbors.”

The sticky notes showed a neighborhood driven to make a permanent memorial but with a wide variety of ideas on how to do so. (The Whittier Alliance is also conducting an online survey.)

A sampling:

Central to the exercise was the yin and yang of Operation Metro Surge: last winter’s acute feeling of tragedy balanced by neighborhood unity and support.

After Pretti’s death, Bro Bros Closet, a Whittier vintage clothing store, had to get a moving truck to bring all the diapers and nonperishable food donations it had received to the neighborhood association office. Neighbors created a monthly block party at Whittier Park. They talk about a sense of togetherness outlasting the chaos of Metro Surge.

“There were so many moments of beauty where people rose to the occasion,” said Anna Schmitz, executive director of the Whitter Alliance.

Earlier this month, vandals dumped motor oil onto the sidewalk near the memorial, creating a mess for volunteers to clean up. A police report listed the offense as arson. It is an open case, and no arrests have been made.

Aisha Chughtai, the city council member who represents the area and lives three blocks from where Pretti was killed, noted how she has a story attached to every intersection in her neighborhood.

Before Jan. 24, 2026, Chughtai saw the corner of Nicollet Avenue and 26th Street as home to memories of eating at Peninsula Malaysian Cuisine with her best friend. It symbolized the first neighborhood where she’s ever fully felt at home.

“That changed for me on the day that those agents took Alex from us,” she said. “Now, this is the story of Minneapolis’ resilience. The story of what it means to love your community and love your neighbors and love them for real, like, willing to pay the ultimate price for it. This ground is sacred, and it should be preserved that way.”

Saturday’s exercise was necessary, Chughtai said, since momentum for a permanent memorial must come from the neighborhood, not from city hall.

“I want a permanent memorial that tells the story of incredible hopelessness and incredible hopefulness at the same time,” she said. “There’s no meaning in watching an extrajudicial killing happen in front of your eyes. Those things are unspeakable. There is meaning, though, in how much Alex loved his neighbors, and the lengths he went to stand up for them, and the way we came together.”

_____

(Alicia Eler contributed to this report.)

_____