- ICE agent fatally shoots Renee Good in Minneapolis.
- Feds claim self-defense; locals call it bullshit.
- FBI cuts state access to investigation evidence.
Speaking at a press conference two days after Renee Nicole Good died in her car during a confrontation with federal officers amid protests and public scrutiny during an immigration crackdown, Democratic mayor of the Minnesota city Jacob Frey criticized the Trump administration's response to the shooting.
Without offering any proof or waiting for the formal investigation to be completed, Donald Trump, JD Vance, and Kristi Noem, the secretary at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the parent organization of ICE, all quickly accused Good of participating in "domestic terrorism."
Frey, the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, and other local leaders, including at least one well-known Republican, had reacted angrily to the massacre and the comments from Washington, DC.
“This is not a time to hide from the facts,”
Frey said on Friday, referring to the FBI’s seizure of full control of the investigation, and exclusion of officials from the Minnesota bureau of criminal apprehension, adding:
“If you’ve got nothing to hide from, then don’t hide from it.”
“They’re calling the victim a domestic terrorist. They’re calling the actions of the agent involved as some form of defensive posture. We know that they’ve already determined much of the investigation.”
He added:
“And even if they haven’t, there is the appearance that there is some conclusion drawn from the very beginning. If not hide from the facts, why not embrace them? Our ask is to embrace the truth. Our ask is to include the bureau of criminal apprehension in this process, because we in Minneapolis want a fair investigation.”
Following a second night of nonviolent demonstrations against the Trump administration's harsh anti-immigration policies in Minneapolis and other locations, Frey spoke as Walz invited Minnesotans to observe a "day of unity" on Friday, which included a moment of quiet for Good.
A sizable gathering in the city on Thursday night in bitterly cold temperatures passed peacefully, with the exception of a few small altercations, while city workers on Friday morning were removing makeshift barriers left by protesters and reopening streets close to the shooting scene, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Tributes were still being placed by well-wishers. The layers of snow and ice on the ground contrasted with the brilliant reds, yellows, and greens of groupings of flowers.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the city's situation had become extremely tense as residents feared a recurrence of the out-of-control backlash against the authorities that erupted in some areas in 2020
following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer on the south side of Minneapolis, approximately a mile from the scene of Good's death.
On Friday, the political ramifications of Good's passing during a massive immigration enforcement operation by ICE and other federal agencies in Minneapolis persisted. It happened at the same time that 100 additional federal agents were being dispatched to Minneapolis, according to the New York Times.
Authorities also had to cope with the shooting of two individuals by border patrol officials in Portland, Oregon, another city under the Trump administration's immigration campaign.
“In order for there to be real confidence in this investigation, ideally, it will be turned over to the state,”
he told NPR.
“But if that doesn’t happen, at least it should be joint, and the state should be a full partner.”
In an interview with Axios, Bryna Godar, a faculty attorney at the University of Wisconsin Law School, stated that individual US states "can and do prosecute federal officials" if they engage in unlawful activities that aren't permitted by federal law.
Walz also took issue with the state authorities' decision on Thursday.
“Now that Minnesota has been taken out of the investigation, it feels very, very difficult that we will get a fair outcome,”
Walz said.
“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,”
he said at a press conference.
The Trump administration claimed that the cop who fired the deadly rounds was acting in self-defense as Good's car lurched towards him and tried to paint Good, a mother of three who had apparently just dropped off her son at school, as brainwashed "by leftist ideology." Critics claim she was attempting to drive away from the authorities, while the administration claimed she was attempting to run down the officer.
What evidence do state investigators want included in the FBI probe?
Minneapolis state investigators, led by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension( BCA), are demanding full access to scene substantiation, substantiation interviews, and investigative accoutrements withheld by the FBI in the inquiry into ICE officer Jonathan Ross's fatal firing of US citizen Renee Nicole Good.
The BCA seeks physical forensics( ballistics matching Ross's service armament to Good's head crack, vehicle plummet analysis contradicting" ramming" claims), officer bodycam/ cell phone footage showing disagreeing commands(" drive down" vs. door- grabbing).
US Attorney's Office reversed collaborationpost-DHS" domestic terrorism" narrative, limiting BCA to supplemental places despite Minnesota's governance over state crimes. Supervisor Drew Evans cited incapability to meet" investigative norms" without officer interviews, necropsy/ toxicology reports, and 911 logs, egging reticent pullout pending civil translucency.