Alex Jeffrey Pretti was killed on the roadway of Nicollet Avenue in South Minneapolis by federal agents. He was an ICU nurse who cared for American veterans at the Veterans Administration Medical Center near Fort Snelling. On January 24, on the evening of the day Pretti was killed, candlelit memorial vigils were held across Minnesota and the country to honor his sacrifice as a citizen observer and caregiver aiding his neighbors.
One of the largest memorial vigil gatherings was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC). The gathering was in the south end of Whittier Park, which is in the the Whittier neighborhood of South Minneapolis, approximately a 10-minute walk from the site where federal agents killed Pretti and there now is a memorial to him.
In the late afternoon of January 24, the City of Minneapolis, in coordination with the State of Minnesota, announced a limited vehicle access perimeter in the Whittier neighborhood surrounding the site of the killing on the 2600 block of Nicollet Avenue, across from local business Glam Doll Donuts. This limited vehicle access perimeter did not include Whittier Park, where the main memorial vigil was to take place.
“We commend those demonstrating peacefully right now. To ensure the safety of residents, the City is putting in place a vehicle perimeter in the area surrounding the scene of today’s fatal shooting by federal agents. The zone includes Franklin Ave to 28th St, 35W to Pillsbury Ave”
City of Minneapolis social media on January 24, 2026 at 4:36 pm
The City of Minneapolis announced that Minneapolis police squad cars and Minnesota National Guard vehicles would be present at select entry points on the boundaries. Vehicle access would be limited to residents, workers, and essential needs.
MIRAC organizers scheduled the memorial vigil for Pretti to begin at 5:00 pm. A friend and I joined the vigil at around 5:50 pm. By that time, the attendance had swelled into the thousands in the field on the south end of Whittier Park. I took photos from the steps to Whittier School that shares the block, then we paid our respects and left, taking Grand Avenue up to 24th Street then Franklin along the limited vehicle access perimeter.
Walking both from Stevens Square to the vigil and back from Whittier Park back to Stevens Square, both my friend and I were struck by the road closures with pairs of Minneapolis police and Minnesota National Guard vehicles. Each road closure had representation from both agencies, from our own observations.
The gross weight of a M1151 vehicle — often known as a “Humvee” — is 7,700 to 8,500 pounds. That is far heavier than the maximum gross weight of a 2026 Ford F-150, the most popular passenger vehicle of any type in the United States. My friend remarked that she felt safer walking behind these vehicles and inside the perimeter because it was less likely that a rouge heavy vehicle could get through. Which is why they were there.
The vehicle perimeter was lifted just before 10:00 am on Sunday, January 25. The City of Minneapolis reported that, “activity overnight was calm and peaceful.” Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey shared that, “The memorials and gatherings were peaceful, and there were no arrests and no reports of burglaries or fires.”
The success of this emergency application of traffic calming rules shows how quickly that pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers can quickly adapt to new rules and adjust their routes and schedules. It is estimated that around 5,000 people attended the memorial vigil hosted by MIRAC in Whittier Park. It may have been higher since there were many attendees arriving and leaving over the course of the early evening.
On January 26, 2023, nearly three years before, the City of Minneapolis had announced that many city streets would switch to one-sided street parking due the overwhelming snowfall during that winter. Then-Public Works Director Margaret Anderson Kelliher argued that emergency services were having a hard time making it through two-way streets with two-sided parking, standing in front of a Minneapolis Fire Department fire engine truck in a vehicle depot for the announcement.
Traffic calming experiments sometimes are unplanned events. But natural experiments have shown that urban areas and city traffic can adjust quickly to these changes to the ability to park or drive in a transportation network.
When I was in Whittier Park, there was one senior woman using a walker on the snowy sidewalk to pay her respects. The fact that her driver could bring her to a crowded destination in the winter weather conditions, and that she could pay her respects as she chose, shows the resilience of both of transportation networks and our neighbors.
Renee Nicole Good. Alex Jeffrey Pretti. May their memories be a blessing and a call to action.