Minnesota officials said Thursday that federal law enforcement are freezing out state investigators from the investigation into the deadly ICE-related shooting of a 37-year-old woman.
Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said in a statement that BCA was originally set to jointly investigate the shooting, after consultation with the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI. But, according to Evans, federal officials soon "reversed course" and said the investigation would be led solely by the FBI.
That decision meant the Minnesota BCA “would no longer have access to the case materials, scene evidence or investigative interviews necessary to complete a thorough and independent investigation,” Evans said.
“Without complete access to the evidence, witnesses and information collected, we cannot meet the investigative standards that Minnesota law and the public demands,” he said. “We expect the FBI to conduct a thorough and complete investigation and that the full investigative file will be shared with the appropriate prosecutorial authorities at both the state and federal levels.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, on Thursday called the news “very concerning.”
“We've been trying to figure out how can we get somebody at the FBI, somebody to understand the damage that they're doing with this kind of decision,” Ellison told CNN. “Hopefully they'll reverse it.”
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the move in a press conference Thursday, saying the ICE agent followed his training and that Minnesota officials “have not been cut out. They don't have any jurisdiction in this investigation.”
Renee Nicole Macklin Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer on Wednesday. Video of the shooting taken by bystanders and posted to social media shows an officer approaching Good’s car, demanding she open the door as he grabs the driver’s-side door handle. Good begins to pull forward, and a different ICE officer in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and fires at least two shots into the vehicle at close range.
A New York Times analysis of several bystander videos found that footage contradicted the Trump administration’s account of the shooting, where administration officials claimed there was “defensive shots” because she was attempting to run agents over.
The shooting sparked a firestorm between Minnesota officials — who called Good innocent — and the Trump administration, who labeled her actions as “domestic terrorism.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, demanded Thursday that state investigators be allowed to participate.
“Minnesota must be part of this investigation. These are nonpartisan career professionals that have spent years building the trust of the community,” he said at a press conference. Without them, he added, “it feels very, very difficult that we will get a fair outcome.”
Noem on Thursday attacked Minnesota officials when asked about their exclusion, saying they are “allowing the situation to be volatile.”
“I'd like to know where they've been and why they're not out on the streets investigating all of these people that are harassing and inciting violence on law enforcement officers right now,” Noem said. “They're allowing the situation to be volatile. They're not doing their work. They haven't for years.”
Noem pointed to allegations of fraud throughout the state as she accused Minnesota of being “a train wreck.”
“It is corrupt, and it was under the leadership of Gov. Walz and this mayor that they allowed it to happen, and they let criminals and illegals and people abuse programs and steal the money,” she said. “And now they're allowing violence to go forward on the streets as well.”
ICE tactics in Minneapolis were already under a microscope prior to Wednesday’s fatal shooting as a result of an emergency class action lawsuit by protesters who claimed they were arrested by agents in violation of their First Amendment rights.
“They have waged wanton violence upon peaceful observers and protesters: threatening them with guns, attacking them with pepper spray and chemical agents, hitting them with vehicles,” the plaintiffs argued in a Dec. 18 filing.
In a response to the suit filed Monday, the Trump administration said there was increasing incidents of violence and threats — including daily incidents in which protesters allegedly trail and sometimes impede ICE vehicles.
The judge in the case, Katherine Menendez, was slated to hold a hearing Thursday morning on the protesters’ call for a preliminary injunction blocking ICE tactics, including what they allege include “pointing firearms” at protesters “who are not posing an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury to another person.”
But Menendez canceled the hearing Wednesday, as details of the shooting began to emerge.
Gregory Svirnovskiy, Kyle Cheney and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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