Minnesota officials announced a separate investigation into a fatal ICE shooting that took place in south Minneapolis earlier this week, after being shut out of the initial investigation by federal law enforcement.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Friday asked members of the public to submit evidence related to Wednesday’s fatal ICE shooting in south Minneapolis via a secure online portal.
That evidence will then be given to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which investigates officer-involved shootings in Minnesota. After investigating an incident, the BCA submits the case file to the county attorney’s office, which then makes a decision if criminal charges are appropriate.
The announcement comes after federal agencies first agreed to work together, then backed out, blocking state officials from accessing any evidence and reports about the shooting that has made headlines worldwide and prompted days of vigils, protests and marches.
“We are concerned that the evidence obtained in an investigation that has only been conducted at the federal level will not be shared with our office for review,” Moriarty said.
Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on Portland Avenue near E. 34th Street at about 9:45 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Moriarty and Ellison urged citizens to share information about the shooting, such as videos or photos from the scene. Ellison said collecting evidence is “a component” of an investigation.
“We want to make sure the evidence that may be out there in the public lands where it should,” he said.
State investigators don’t have access to some pieces of evidence, such as Good’s car and shell casings from the scene, which are in the possession of the FBI. Moriarty said it’s too early to say if that evidence would be essential to determining if charges are appropriate.
Moriarty said that the state has the authority to investigate the shooting.
“Let me be clear, we do have jurisdiction to make this decision that happened in this case where her life was taken in Hennepin County,” Moriarty said. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the federal agent who shot Good has “absolute immunity” from criminal charges, news outlets including CNN reported. Moriarty said that is not the case.
“I can say that the ICE officer does not have complete immunity,” she said.
The officer, first identified by the Star Tribune, is ICE agent Jonathan Ross, an agency veteran based in Minnesota.
Moriarty and Ellison announced the effort Friday at an 11 a.m. news conference. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other leaders held a separate news conference earlier in the day at 9 a.m. criticizing the federal government’s stance on the investigation.
BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said in a news release Thursday that his agency spoke with the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office on Wednesday, and it was agreed that the BCA would partner with the FBI.
“Later [Wednesday] afternoon, the FBI informed the BCA that the U.S. Attorney’s Office had reversed course: the investigation would now be led solely by the FBI, and the 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 in the BCA statement.
The decision will make it difficult for the state to bring charges against the agent who killed Good, Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said Thursday.
Correction: The name of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson has been updated in this story.
