Report: VA investigated employees who spoke publicly about Alex Pretti

In the days following the Border Patrol killing of Alex Pretti, his colleagues at Department of Veterans Affairs clinics and hospitals across the country held vigils in his honor.

The VA opened investigations into multiple staffers who attended the vigils and spoke to the press, CNN reported Tuesday. 

Becky Halioua, a recreational therapist and union leader at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, told a local TV station covering a vigil, “It’s scary for me to think about a fellow VA employee being murdered by the same government that they work for.”

Then, her supervisor told her she was under investigation for violating an agency rule that requires employees to refer media requests to the communications office, CNN reports. 

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham called the investigations a “witch hunt” in a statement Tuesday. 

“If even grief must be approved by management, what’s to stop the Trump administration from silencing VA workers who speak up for the veterans they proudly serve every single day?” Burnham said.

Pretti, 37, was an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center before he was shot and killed by federal agents in January after a brief confrontation. Pretti was a lawful gun owner who had been disarmed just before the shooting. 

His parents described him as “a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans” he cared for as a nurse. 

His sister said Pretti “had a way of lighting up every room he walked into” and “made people feel safe.” 

The FBI formally notified Minnesota officials in February that it would not grant them access to evidence from the investigation into the killing of Pretti. Minnesota filed a lawsuit in March to obtain the evidence, and local prosecutors have pledged to move forward with charges if warranted.