Federal prosecutors turned over key evidence long sought by Minnesota investigators in their ongoing probe into the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti during pitched protests against an immigration enforcement crackdown earlier this year, state prosecutors announced Monday.
The progress came as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a motorist in Maine on Monday, and Houston prosecutors complained the administration was still withholding critical information in their investigation into a fatal shooting by an ICE officer last week.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the evidence turned over by U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Daniel Rosen’s office included previously withheld hard drives containing statements, police body camera video and other materials in the Minnesota killings. Federal prosecutors also turned over Good’s badly damaged SUV, she said.
“The wonderful thing now is we have all the evidence,” Moriarty said. “Any time the government is responsible in whatever way of taking the life of a community member we need to have a full and thorough investigation.”
Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed in her vehicle while leaving an anti-immigration enforcement protest in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.
Her death and that of Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse shot and killed days later during a Jan. 24 protest, sparked outrage across the country and calls to rein in immigration enforcement.
The Minneapolis immigration crackdown, dubbed “Operation Metro Surge,” ended in February after being billed as the largest immigration enforcement operation ever.
At least nine people have been killed nationwide since the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign began last year. No one has been charged in connection with the deaths, and the federal government has suggested state prosecutors don’t have jurisdiction to investigate federal officers.
Lawyers for Good’s family said the transfer of evidence represented “an important and meaningful step towards justice and accountability.” The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which took custody of the evidence, declared that “great strides have been made” to ensure a “thorough and complete review” of the shootings.
But a lawyer for Pretti’s family said Rosen’s office, in a meeting Monday afternoon, wouldn’t confirm any cooperation agreement between state and federal agencies.
“No family should be required to beg federal authorities to do their job,” Steve Schleicher said in a statement. “Without a public commitment by federal authorities to cooperate with the state, it is difficult — if not, impossible — to pursue justice that holds the individuals accountable for Alex’s death.”
Spokespersons for Rosen’s office, as well as ICE and the federal Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Monday.
Legal wrangling in another ICE-related shooting may have led to evidence release
Moriarty on Monday declined to provide details on what prompted the federal government to turn over the evidence.
But documents recently filed in a lawsuit brought by state and local officials suggest the breakthrough came after federal officials sought evidence state investigators gathered in the investigation of ICE agent Christian Castro.
Castro, 52, was charged with assault and falsely reporting a crime in connection with the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. Prosecutors say Castro fired through a Minneapolis home’s front door and shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh while in pursuit of another man.
State and local prosecutors said they would provide evidence in Castro’s case as soon as the federal government agreed to share its evidence in the shootings of Pretti and Good.
“We are willing to share evidence with you if the exchange is reciprocal,” Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans wrote in a legal filing to federal officials.
Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison later amended their lawsuit to add details about the federal government’s refusal to share the evidence collected in the fatal shootings.
Days later, they said in a court filing that the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office and state officials “have recently re-engaged in discussions about the prospect of mutual information sharing.”
Ellison, in a statement Monday, said he remains “deeply troubled” it took more than half a year for federal officials to hand over the materials.
“It should never have taken this long,” he said. “I hope that this is the beginning of a major course correction on the part of the federal government.”
Moriarty added that she’s not yet prepared to drop the lawsuit against the Trump administration, which seeks access to evidence in the three shootings.
Houston investigators complain feds are leaving them in the dark
Prosecutors in Houston, meanwhile, echoed similar concerns about obtaining critical information from federal officials as they look into last week’s death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had lived in the U.S. for decades.
DHS has acknowledged officers stopped Salgado Araujo while looking for someone else, but maintains the homebuilder rammed an ICE vehicle while attempting to leave the scene. The agency says that prompted an officer to open fire in self-defense, though it has yet to provide evidence to back up that claim.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Monday that his office doesn’t even know the identities of the ICE officers involved or where they are nearly a week later.
“The federal government has not invited us in,” Teare said. “The federal government is not collaborating with us with this investigation.”
The man killed Monday in Maine was from Colombia. Federal officers claimed he tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers pursuing him for deportation. The shooting took place in Biddeford, a coastal city of about 23,000 people roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland.
____
Associated Press reporter John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this story.
