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On Saturday, Alex Pretti was pushed to the ground and fatally shot by federal agents. Video shows that, moments before, Pretti was holding a cellphone in one hand and had his other hand up. Pretti was 37 and worked as an ICU nurse at a VA hospital. He enjoyed biking and had a dog named Joule.

Later that day, What Next’s Mary Harris spoke to Dimitri Drekonja, a colleague and friend of Pretti’s, who remembers him as “a kind guy” who modeled cooperation and who, right out of school, took one of the hardest jobs available to nurses. Their conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Mary Harris: How did you learn about what happened? 

Dimitri Drekonja: We were at [my son’s ski] race in the morning, and one of the other parents said, “Did you hear there was another shooting?” It sort of filtered through: “It sounds like another shooting.” “Another person died.” And there was a lot of sort of like, “This is just heavy.” “Awful.”

And then we got back from the race, and on a group chat, someone said, “ICE executed Alex Pretti.” [Editor’s note: It later became clear that the officers were with Customs and Border Protection.] It was from our group that we had had when we had first hired him to be study staff on our research........

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