The Relentless School Nurse: What Happens When the Helpers Are Harmed

Author’s Note
I wrote this piece while trying to understand something that feels deeply broken: what it means when people who show up to help are harmed, and when accountability feels harder to reach than reassurance. This is not an attempt to offer easy answers. It is an invitation to sit with the questions, to refuse silence, and to ask what we owe the helpers, and one another, now.

“When I was a boy, and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
— Fred Rogers

This message from Mr. Rogers, often shared in classrooms, grief circles, and social posts, comforts us after traumatic events. We repeat it because it points us toward hope and humanity. But what happens when the helpers themselves are the ones harmed?

On January 24, 2026, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, RN, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse from Minneapolis, was shot and killed by federal law enforcement officers during an immigration enforcement operation. Video from the scene showed Pretti filming federal agents and attempting to help others when he was tackled and fatally shot. Friends, colleagues, and family describe him as compassionate and deeply committed to care.

This was not an accident. It occurred in broad daylight amid protests sparked by federal immigration tactics that had already left another person, Renée Good, dead. Pretti’s killing was the second fatal shooting by Border Patrol or ICE agents in Minneapolis in recent weeks, part of a broader enforcement effort known as Operation Metro Surge.

Protests are now spreading across the country. Across political aisles, calls for accountability and limits on federal enforcement tactics are growing louder. Some lawmakers have begun to resist further funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the agency that oversees ICE and Customs and Border Protection, citing these deaths and the broader enforcement approach.

Why This Moment Matters for Nurses and Communities

Nurses are helpers.

We move toward suffering, not away from it.
We are trained to assess danger and protect life.
We bear witness—because someone has to.

But our training does not inoculate us from fear.

Many nurses understand the instinct to stay quiet—to endure, to keep going, to protect their professional standing before challenging powerful systems. Nursing culture has not always rewarded speaking up. Yet witnessing injustice and remaining silent carries consequences—not only for nurses, but for the communities we serve.

When a nurse is killed while trying to help, and questioning that killing is met with resistance rather than transparency, it sends a shock through our moral compass—not just our profession.

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The Helpers Are Supposed to Be Safe

We tell people to “look for the helpers” because we assume helpers are protected by the moral fabric of society. But what if that fabric is unraveling?

If helping, caring, observing, recording, and intervening put someone at risk of lethal force without independent accountability, then our shared assumptions about safety collapse.

That should unsettle every caregiver, every parent, every neighbor who believes compassion is a guiding principle.

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What We Are Seeing Now

• Local protests in Minneapolis and across the U.S. are demanding answers and accountability after the killing of Alex Pretti and the earlier death of Renée Good

• State and national voices are calling for ICE to be reined in or defunded, arguing that lethal tactics have become normalized

• Members of Congress signaling opposition to DHS funding unless enforcement actions are conditioned on transparency and independent investigation

This is not just a policy debate.
It is a moral moment.

I’m Still Grappling—and I Think We Should Be

I do not want to rush to resolution. This is not a neat story. It should not be.

But I know this: Alex Pretti and Renée Good were helpers. Nurses are helpers. Communities depend on helpers to believe the world can still be humane.

And when helpers are killed, something in all of us should stop and ask: What kind of system are we becoming?

Mr. Rogers told us to look for the helpers. Today, I am asking something harder.

I am asking us to look at what happens when helpers are harmed. Because if we teach the next generation that helping can get you killed, and that no one will fully reckon with it, we teach them something far more frightening than any news story.

We teach them that compassion is dangerous.

That is not a lesson I am willing to pass on.

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Advocacy Tools — Next Steps

Take action

• Locate your Senators: https://www.senate.gov/senators

• Send the letter below via email or official contact forms

• Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 and ask to speak with a staffer

• Ask Senators to condition or defund DHS/ICE until independent oversight is guaranteed

• Download and share the advocacy toolkit: Protect the Helpers – protect-the-helpers-handout-v2

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Letter to the Senate

Demand Defunding of ICE/DHS Until Violence Ends

Subject: Condition Federal Funding on Ending Violent Enforcement Tactics and Protecting Civilians

Dear Senator [Last Name],

I write to you as a registered nurse, caregiver, and constituent deeply troubled by the killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, RN, an ICU nurse in Minneapolis, during federal immigration enforcement operations. This was the second fatal shooting by federal immigration agents in recent weeks, following the killing of Renée Good, and has intensified protests and calls for accountability.

These events raise serious concerns about the use of force by agencies under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The resistance to independent investigation and the rapid narrowing of official narratives undermine public trust and call into question whether current enforcement tactics are compatible with public safety and constitutional protections.

I respectfully urge you to condition any further funding for DHS, ICE, and CBP on the following safeguards:

• Independent investigations into all fatal encounters involving federal agents, conducted outside DHS

• Full transparency, including timely public release of body-camera footage and investigative findings

• Clear limits on militarized enforcement tactics that prioritize de-escalation and civil liberties

• Protections for civilians—including healthcare workers and observers—who peacefully bear witness or protest

Funding agencies without these conditions normalizes harm and teaches silence in the face of force.

As caregivers, we understand that courage does not mean the absence of fear. It means refusing to let fear decide what is tolerable. Congress has both the authority and the obligation to ensure federal resources do not enable practices that endanger civilians and undermine democratic values.

I urge you to publicly state your position on conditioning DHS funding and to work with colleagues to enact these safeguards.

Sincerely,
[Your Name, RN]
[City, State]
[Email] | [Phone]