National leadership at the Department of Veterans Affairs initially blocked a memorial planned for Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse who was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis. In an email obtained by The New Republic , officials at the Minneapolis VA claimed that “local leadership was instructed to pause the memorial” for Pretti, initially scheduled for Tuesday at noon. “So in other words, somebody told our people, ‘Back off,’” said one Minneapolis VA employee, who spoke