Tensions are flaring in Minneapolis after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a 37-year-old woman on Wednesday.
The Department of Homeland Security alleges the woman was “attempting to run over our law enforcement officers” when the officer shot her. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed it was an “act of domestic terrorism” and argued that the vehicle was a “deadly weapon.”
But the Minnesota governor and Minneapolis mayor are disputing the government’s claims, with the mayor saying that, according to videos, the victim, Renee Good, wasn’t driving her car toward the agent or using her car as a weapon.
“This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying — getting killed,” Mayor Jacob Frey said.
Minnesota says it’s been pushed out from taking part in shooting probe with FBI
State officials said the FBI is now solely leading the investigation into the deadly ICE shooting after they were denied access to the case materials.
According to Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) Superintendent Drew Evans, in the wake of the shooting, the state and FBI were conducting a joint investigation, but that later that day, he said in a statement, “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.”
Without that access, Evans said the BCA “cannot meet the investigative standards that Minnesota law and the public demands” and has “reluctantly withdrawn from the investigation.”
“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,” he said.
ICE operations ongoing in Minnesota, acting director says
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continued operations in the state an hour after Wednesday’s deadly shooting in Minneapolis, according to Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons.
“We continued operations in Minnesota; we’re there today, we’re still conducting operations, our daily law enforcement mission in all 50 states and territories right now. We’re going to keep doing the work,” he told Fox News on Thursday.
Lyons said ICE has the “largest contingent” of ICE officers they have ever deployed to one city.
He also called the shooting “totally avoidable” and placed the blame on elected officials calling ICE names.
“So these individuals that are listening to this political rhetoric and following these guidance to go out there and impede us, you know, threaten officers, be legal observers as they say,” Lyons said. “Just not right. They shouldn’t interject themselves in a potentially deadly situation.”
Lyons said that they will be ramping up operations in cities with a “high concentration” of those in the U.S. illegally, but didn’t say where.
