Minnesota investigators withdraw after FBI blocks evidence access in ICE shooting investigation

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Minnesota state investigators say they have been forced to withdraw from the investigation into the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent after federal authorities denied them access to key evidence.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said that the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office reversed an earlier agreement for a joint probe, leaving the FBI in sole control of the case.

The shooting has drawn national attention amid conflicting accounts from federal officials and eyewitnesses. 

Bureau of Criminal Apprehension withdraws after FBI assumes full control

The Minnesota BCA said that it has “reluctantly withdrawn from the investigation” into the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident, after being denied access to evidence and investigative materials.

Good was reportedly shot three times through the windshield of her car by an ICE agent, and she succumbed to her injuries.

In a statement posted on the agency’s website, BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said that the BCA was notified that ICE personnel were involved in a shooting resulting in a woman’s death.

After consultations with the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, the US Attorney’s Office and the FBI, it was initially decided that the BCA Force Investigations Unit would conduct a joint investigation with the FBI. 

Later that afternoon, however, the FBI informed the BCA that the US Attorney’s Office had reversed course.

According to Evans, the FBI said it would now lead the investigation alone and that the BCA “would no longer have access to the case materials, scene evidence or investigative interviews necessary to complete a thorough and independent investigation.”

“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 “As a result, the BCA has reluctantly withdrawn from the investigation.”

Evans emphasized that the BCA Force Investigations Unit was created in 2020 to ensure “consistency, accountability and public confidence” in deadly force investigations involving law enforcement officers.

“None of which can be achieved without full cooperation and jurisdictional clarity,” he said.

While withdrawing, Evans added that the BCA expects the FBI to conduct a thorough investigation and share the full investigative file with appropriate prosecutorial authorities.

He said that the agency would be prepared to reengage if federal authorities reconsider and agree to resume a joint investigation.

Federal response and political reaction 

Federal officials have defended the ICE agent’s actions as self-defense.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that the agent was “hit by the vehicle,” taken to a hospital for treatment, and later released.

“He had acted appropriately to protect his life and the life of his colleagues and fellow law enforcement officers,” Noem said, claiming the agent acted within his training. 

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said that he was pessimistic that a federal-only probe will result in a fair outcome.

“It feels very, very difficult that we will get a fair outcome,” Walz said. “And I say that only because people in positions of power have already passed judgment, from the president, to the vice president, to Kristi Noem have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate.”

The FBI is now solely responsible for the investigation into Good’s death. The US Attorney’s Office has not publicly detailed why the decision was made to exclude state investigators.