Federal government stopped sharing information in Good, Pretti killings, Minnesota officials say

Minnesota officials said the Department of Justice (DOJ) has stopped sharing evidence related to the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by immigration officers earlier this year.

Minnesota officials said in a court filing reviewed by The Associated Press that the federal government stopped sharing evidence related to the two shooting deaths during President Trump’s Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. Minnesota officials initially sued the DOJ for the evidence they said was needed to conduct an independent investigation of the shootings.

State officials have asked a judge to order the DOJ to hand over evidence they have on the shootings and said the federal government has no legal authority to obstruct their investigation. According to the filings, the DOJ agreed to share the evidence with state officials in July and began transferring materials to Minnesota but stopped the cooperation soon after.

Good, a mother of three, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer through her car’s windshield after she attempted to drive forward after a heated interaction with an officer. After shooting through the windshield, the officer moved next to the driver’s side window and fired two more shots while standing an arm’s length away from Good.

Pretti, a nurse who was protesting the immigration enforcement operations, was killed weeks later after he approached officers while protesting and filming on his phone. Pretti was legally carrying a gun on his person, which was taken by an officer as a group of agents attempted to arrest him moments before shots were fired .

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in the filings that she was told on Sept. 10 that evidence sharing would be indefinitely on pause. In a DOJ reply earlier this week, the federal government argued that they have the power to decide what information they share with state authorities, The Associated Press reported.

Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said in a legal declaration reviewed by The Associated Press that the DOJ has Good’s clothing and the cellphone of the officer who killed her. Evans also said the DOJ has not shared a recorded statement from the officer who killed Pretti, the guns used by officers on the scene or the gun taken from Pretti before he was shot.