(CBS NEWS) – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz implored the federal authorities to allow state investigators to work alongside them as they launch a probe into the shooting death of a 37-year-old woman by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Wednesday, after the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said the FBI blocked them from accessing evidence.
Walz, a Democrat, during a Thursday news conference, reiterated that the Trump administration denied the state the ability to participate in the investigation and urged them to reconsider.
He questioned whether Minnesotans would trust the outcome without state investigators’ input.
The FBI declined to comment on the BCA statement.
“It feels 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 [Department of Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem, who has stood and told you things that are verifiably false.”
Noem said the victim, Renee Good, attempted to run over an ICE officer with her car in what she claimed was an “act of domestic terrorism.” President Donald Trump on his social media also claimed she was a “professional agitator” who “ran over” an ICE officer, who responded by shooting her in self-defense.
Eyewitness video evidence from the scene at times contradicts those definitive statements and what occurred is in dispute. A retired ICE agent who spent a quarter-century with federal law enforcement told CBS News that the video he’s seen of the incident leaves him with a number of concerns.
The current policy for ICE and DHS agents outlines very narrow acceptable reasons for an officer to fire a weapon into a moving vehicle. Border czar Tom Homan said he would not comment on what happened before an investigation is complete.
“I don’t have a predetermined notion. Yes, I saw the video. Yes, I saw that. But a thorough investigation will see what happened before that. It will take all factors in and come up with a fair and just conclusion. And we will accept that,” Walz said. “Very, very difficult for Minnesotans to think in any way this is going to be fair when Kristi Noem was judge, jury and basically executioner yesterday.”
Bob Jacobsen, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said the state BCA was initially invited to do a joint investigation, which is not uncommon and has been done before. He said the FBI has shared none of the investigative reports or evidence with state authorities.
“Without any of that information or without any of that assistance from the FBI and the federal government, we would be at a loss to initiate and conduct a thorough investigation,” Jacobsen explained. “For us to be able to do that, it would be extremely difficult — if not impossible — without cooperation from the federal government.”
That could impede the state from making the decision to file any criminal charges against the officer, Jacobsen said, citing the need for a full investigation.
“I will not as a public safety professional jump to any conclusions as to who is at fault in this,” he told reporters. “What I will say, though, is that unless we do that thorough investigation, unless we have access to all of that evidence, unless we have access to agents that were involved in that and to any witnesses — without any of that, we would not be able to put together a quality investigation for any prosecutor to be able to make a determination as to whether or not someone should be charged with a crime.”
A source briefed on the matter told CBS News that the FBI is conducting interviews with eyewitnesses and federal officers at the scene, analyzing videos of what occurred from all angles, and are putting together a timeline of what happened.
That person said the agency will turn over the evidence to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota and the Department of Homeland Security, where the officer is employed.
Read more on WCBI TV | Your News Leader
