In the immediate aftermath of the death of Renée Good in Minneapolis, FBI agents launched a civil rights investigation into the actions of the immigration officer who shot her, according to three people familiar with the investigation.
An agent in Minnesota conducted an initial review of the shooting and determined that sufficient grounds existed to open a civil rights probe into the actions of Jonathan Ross, the officer who shot Good, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The existence of the civil rights investigation stands in sharp contrast to public statements made by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who said on “Fox News Sunday” that the shooting of Good does not warrant a federal investigation.
“There are over 1,000 shootings every year where law enforcement are put in danger by individuals, and they have to protect themselves, and they have a lawful right to do so,” Blanche said. “The Department of Justice doesn’t just stand up and investigate because some congressmen thinks we should, because some governor thinks that we should.”
“We investigate when it’s appropriate to investigate,” Blanche added. “And that is not the case here. It was not the case when it happened and is not the case today.” Instead of a civil rights investigation, Justice Department leaders have tried to pursue a probe against Good’s partner, multiple people familiar with the probe said.
Legal experts said that there is a low threshold for the FBI to open a civil rights investigation, and prosecutors and FBI agents occasionally disagree about when criminal investigations should be pursued.
The FBI declined to comment about the decisions regarding the investigation.
Any federal use-of-force investigation into an officer’s conduct is considered a civil rights investigation because the provision under which officers can be charged is a civil rights statute that covers deprivation of a person’s rights “under color of law.”
On Jan. 7, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis shot three times into the car of Good, a 37-year-old American citizen. Good’s partner was protesting ICE officers nearby in the moments before the shooting.
About a dozen senior prosecutors in Washington and Minnesota have said they would be leaving their jobs amid turmoil over the Trump administration’s handling of the shooting death of Good.
At least five prosecutors in Minnesota — including the office’s second-in-command — were furious that Justice Department leaders demanded that they investigate Good’s partner, prompting them to resign, according to people familiar with their decision, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
In Washington, multiple senior prosecutors in the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division left, in part, because they were excluded from the Good investigation. People familiar with their departures said that, before the shooting, many of them had already planned to take early retirement because they believed that Justice Department leaders were undermining their work. The handling of the Minneapolis shooting, the people said, hastened their departure dates.
“No responsible prosecutor should determine what an outcome should be in such a case until a such an investigation is completed,” said W. Anders Folk, who served as acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota during the Biden administration. “I am concerned that without a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation, the public’s confidence in law enforcement, prosecutors and public safety professionals will suffer.”
A robust federal investigation could determine that the officer was justified in shooting Good, legal experts noted. Law enforcement officers are rarely charged for using lethal force, in part because the law provides significant leeway for officers to decide when use of force is needed.
An accurate conclusion can only be reached, however, if law enforcement officials examine all relevant state and federal laws, and their application to the facts in the case, the legal experts said. A thorough investigation, for example, might conclude that the officer’s first shot at Good was justified, but that the next two were not.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) have said that state officials have been blocked from conducting an investigation into the shooting, with the FBI taking over the probe and denying state agencies access to evidence. Justice Department and FBI leaders have not publicly explained what their probe entails, only saying that a civil rights investigation is not warranted.
The Justice Department has since launched a federal investigation into Walz and Frey, examining whether the two Democratic leaders are impeding federal law enforcement officers’ abilities to do their jobs in the state, The Washington Post reported Friday. Federal prosecutors are expected to serve the two leaders with subpoenas in the coming days.
Walz and Frey have denied any wrongdoing and have accused the Trump administration of weaponizing law enforcement for political purposes.
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