The Trump administration has frozen out Minnesota’s state investigations agency from investigating an ICE agent’s fatal shooting of an unarmed mom, giving the job to FBI director Kash Patel and his federal agency.
As tensions escalated over the death of U.S. citizen Renee Good on Wednesday night, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was enlisted to examine the shooting with the FBI, only to be told on Thursday that the bureau alone would be handling the matter.
“The FBI informed the BCA that the U.S. The 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,” the state-based agency said in a statement.
Asked about the matter on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Minnesota state investigators of “not doing their work” and allowing hostilities to foment.
“I’d like to know where they’ve been and why they’re not out on the streets investigating all of these people that are harassing and inciting violence on law enforcement officers right now,” Noem said.
But as FBI director, Patel has also faced significant criticism for his handling of investigations and for his tendency to use a government jet to rendezvous with his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins.
The MAGA acolyte came under intense criticism after right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated last year, when Patel announced on X that the subject in the high-profile shooting was in custody.
This was contradicted by Utah officials, and hours later, Patel was forced to admit that a person of interest had in fact been released after questioning.
Similar problems occurred in December, when Patel prematurely announced the arrest of a “person of interest” in a mass shooting at Brown University that left two dead and nine injured.
The individual was released hours later, and the actual shooter remained at large for five days.
Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz said Americans would struggle to trust the outcome of an FBI probe into Wednesday’s ICE shooting given the administration had already pre-determined that Good was at fault.
“It feels very, very difficult that we will get a fair outcome,” Walz said.
“And I say that only because people in positions of power have already passed judgment, from the president to the vice president, to Kristi Noem, have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate. They have determined the character of a 37-year-old mom that they didn’t even know.”
However, Vice President JD Vance disagreed.
“The precedent here is very simple. You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action. That’s a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job,” he said.
“The idea that Tim Walz and a bunch of radicals in Minneapolis are going to go after and make this guy’s life miserable because he was doing the job that he was asked to do is preposterous.”
Good was killed during a large federal immigration enforcement operation in south Minneapolis and was pronounced dead after being struck by gunfire.
President Donald Trump and his team have rallied around ICE, smearing Good as “deranged” and claiming she had tried to use her vehicle as a weapon against officers during the operation.
However, local officials and videos from bystanders paint a different picture, suggesting she was shot three times by a federal officer as she attempted to drive away.
Speaking in the White House briefing room on Thursday afternoon, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the incident formed part of a “larger, sinister left-wing movement that has spread across our country.”
Vance also accused “leftwing radicals” and the “corporate media” for inflaming tensions, telling reporters: “That woman was there to interfere with a legitimate law enforcement operation.”
He added that the ICE agent who shot Good had been previously injured by a car while on duty, and ended up with “33 stitches in his leg.”
“So you think maybe he’s a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile?” Vance asked.
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