“Are you okay?” These were the last words of Alex Pretti as he was assisting a woman who had been knocked to the ground by a masked thug for no reason. The thug had used both hands and knocked the woman clear off her feet. Alex Pretti immediately went to her side and asked if she was okay and made to help her up.

A free for all of chaos and shouting by witnesses. Punctuated by pistol whipping. Punctuated by tear gassing. Punctuated even more by the seven masked thugs holding him to the ground and doing those things.

bang

bang

And the masked thugs scattered like the cockroaches they are. Except for 1 who stood over the body on the ground and proceeded to empty his clip.

bang

bang

bang

bang

bang

bang

bang

bang

Silence except for the screaming of the bystander witnesses.

He wasn’t protesting, the protest had been the day before.

He did what all healthcare workers are trained to do in an active shooter situation.

He held his hands out, one clutching his phone and the other the other to the sky.

Didn’t matter.

They still killed him.

There is a report of one of the masked thugs saying “boo hoo” to the body.

I would inquire if they realize what they had done. Murdered a man in cold blood in full view of all those cameras.

And all of the video started to be released. Every single angle. The story that this videos tell do not change.

This was murder.

It wasn’t until later in the morning that the man was identified as an ICU nurse who worked in the VA.

I cannot explain how very, very, very, very mad this makes me.

My first thought was for his family. And my second thought was for the ICU nurses that I know and work with. Were they okay? What were they thinking? Did they condone the murder of one of their colleagues in the street by masked thugs? Because one of the ways we stay sane is not to discuss politics at work.

Later that afternoon the first nursing organization came out and condemned the murder of one of us. Others followed. The ANA. AORN. NCNA. MNA. ONA. NNU. And others. From coast to coast the condemnations came.

But the murderers and their ilk don’t care.

He was in their way. He was daring to help a woman they had just assaulted.

Their handlers bald faced lied to the American people about what had happened.

We know what had happened.

We are all witnesses. Albeit, unwilling witnesses as the videos play over and over and over.

We already know what had happened. No matter how much shit they throw on this nurse. No matter how much they frantically try to spin shit into gold.

The nursing profession is poorer for this.