Federal officials cut off Minnesota law enforcement’s access to case materials related to an immigration agent’s fatal shooting of a driver, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said Thursday.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) initially wanted a joint probe of the incident with the BCA, but it “reversed course” and signaled that it “would now be led solely by the FBI,” Minnesota BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argues that the agent acted in self-defense when he killed 37-year-old Renee Good after she lurched her car toward him during protests in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
“Without complete access to the evidence, witnesses and information collected, we cannot meet the investigative standards that Minnesota law and the public demands,” Evans said. “As a result, the BCA has reluctantly withdrawn from the investigation.”
The FBI’s Minneapolis field office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
The unnamed ICE agent was seen on video approaching Good’s car with other agents as it stood in the middle of the road. She was told to step out, but instead moved the car backward and then forward toward the agent, who then began firing multiple times.
“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots,” the DHS said shortly after. “He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers.”
Left-wing Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Wednesday that she wants the investigation to be local, arguing it is “the only way to ensure full transparency and review by our office.”
“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,” Evans said Thursday.
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called the DHS a “propaganda machine” on Wednesday over its account of the shooting, promising a state investigation to “ensure accountability and justice.”
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