What’s behind the highly unusual move to block Minnesota officials from investigating ICE shooting

(CNN) — Mutual distrust between federal and state authorities derailed plans for a joint FBI and state criminal investigation into Wednesday’s shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE officer, leading to the highly unusual move by the Justice Department to block state investigators from participating in the probe.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said Thursday that after an initial agreement for the FBI to work with the state agency, as well as prosecutors from the US Attorney’s office in Minneapolis and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, to investigate the shooting, federal authorities reversed course and the FBI blocked the BCA from participating in the investigation.

Behind the move to sever ties were concerns in the Trump administration that state officials couldn’t be trusted with information that emerges from the probe, and that ICE agents’ safety would be put at risk, including with potential doxxing of agents involved, two people familiar with the matter told CNN.

The mistrust goes both ways, as state officials attacked the conduct of ICE agents and raised concerns that federal authorities can’t be trusted to fairly investigate given public statements from President Donald Trump and other administration officials accusing the woman killed of being a domestic terrorist.

Minnesota officials have lambasted ICE as “reckless,” calling comments defending the officers who fired the shot as “bullsh*t,” and calling the deployment of ICE in Minnesota a threat to the “endurance of our republic.” Comments like these, the sources said, have fueled the distrust.

A history of state and federal cooperation

The unilateral decision cut off state law enforcement from access to evidence that may show whether the ICE officer responsible for the fatal shooting could, or should, be criminally charged.

In the past, federal and local law enforcement have worked together to meticulously gather evidence, conduct interviews and share information in cases of officer-involved killings. Like in the investigation into the killing of Minneapolis’ George Floyd, local law enforcement was focused on bringing state murder charges, while the federal investigation focused on whether civil rights laws were violated.

Minnesota Department of Public Safety commissioner Bob Jacobson said during a press conference Thursday that state investigators work with the FBI “all the time” as the bureau has “the evidence in the original investigative notes and reports.”

“We have none of that,” he said. “They have shared none of that with us.”

Jacobson added that bringing a case against the officer would be “extremely difficult, if not impossible, without cooperation from the federal government.”

The FBI declined to comment for this story and hasn’t said what the parameters of its investigation are. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s only public statement relating to the incident so far warned protesters not to impede further law enforcement actions. FBI Director Kash Patel, a prolific poster on social media, hasn’t commented on the events.

Investigating the driver

Since the shooting late Wednesday morning, top administration officials have firmly stated what they believe the federal investigation should focus on — jumping to assert the agent’s innocence and alleging that the woman who was killed may have been part of an unknown organized effort to obstruct ICE operations.

In a press conference Thursday, Vice President JD Vance blamed the “far left” for attacks on law enforcement and said the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was a “tragedy of her own making.”

“If you just look at the eyewitness accounts, they were saying she was there to prevent the enforcement of the law, she was trying to obstruct a legitimate law enforcement operation. That much is obviously clear,” Vance said.

Uncovering whether Good was part of an organized group, he said, “is part of the reason why we investigate this stuff.”

Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said that the agent “acted according to his training” while Good tried to “weaponize her vehicle” in an “an act of domestic terrorism.” The Department of Homeland Security has opened an internal investigation into whether the agent followed department procedures.

Minnesota law enforcement has now “reluctantly withdrawn” from the investigation, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said in a statement.

Noem said during a press conference in New York on Thursday that Minnesota authorities “don’t have any jurisdiction in this investigation,” a comment that appears to refer to the federal government’s ability to supersede state investigations.

Some in the state worry that the ongoing FBI investigation won’t be as thorough, or as focused, as it should be — and that the federal government has already determined the outcome.

“I’m hoping that someone over there with the federal authorities understands the true damage to justice and the perception of justice that a closed off exclusive investigation would mean,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told CNN on Thursday, adding that “whatever they come out with – it would be questioned.”

“Maybe they don’t care,” Ellison said.

The story headline has been updated.

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