Trump administration stopped sharing evidence in Good and Pretti
killings, Minnesota officials say
[October 23, 2026]
By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM
The federal government has stopped sharing evidence with Minnesota
authorities who are investigating the killings of Renee Good and Alex
Pretti by federal officers, state officials said in recent court
filings.
Minnesota officials sued President Donald Trump's administration in
March for access to materials they said they needed to independently
investigate the shootings during Trump’s immigration crackdown in
Minneapolis earlier this year. The Trump administration has suggested
that state prosecutors don’t have jurisdiction to investigate federal
officers, while Minnesota officials have said they don’t trust the
federal government to investigate itself.
The state is still seeking the cell phones of the officers involved in
both shootings and recordings of key interviews.
State prosecutors announced in July that the federal government had
begun turning over evidence in the cases, including police body camera
video and hard drives containing statements. Hennepin County Attorney
Mary Moriarty said at the time that the state expected to receive “all
the evidence.”
But Minnesota investigators said in October court filings that the
transfer of evidence stopped soon after the July announcement. Moriarty
said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota told her on Sept. 10 that
evidence sharing would be on pause indefinitely “in light of challenges
with D.C.," according to the documents.
State prosecutors have again asked a judge to order federal agencies to
hand over the evidence, arguing they "have identified no legal authority
or rational basis justifying their obstruction of state criminal
investigations."
In a reply filed Tuesday, attorneys for the Justice Department argued
it's within their discretion to decline to share information with state
authorities. They cited the department's rules for responding to record
requests, known as the Touhy regulations, which apply only when formal
legal proceedings are underway. The attorneys said there was no active
court case when Minnesota made its requests.
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Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal
Apprehension, said in a legal declaration that federal authorities still
have Good’s clothing, the cell phone of the officer who killed her and
interview recordings that state authorities have never been able to
view.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Good, a
37-year-old mother of three, while she was leaving a Minneapolis protest
on Jan. 7. Bystander video shows Good in the driver’s seat of an SUV,
repeatedly honking the horn, when masked immigration officers order her
to step out of the vehicle. She starts to pull forward, and an officer
standing in front of the car fires at her windshield. The officer, now
standing about an arm’s length from the open window on the driver's
side, fires twice more, according to an analysis of the videos by The
Associated Press and others.
Federal officials at the time said the officer acted in self-defense.
Good's death and that of Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse who
was killed weeks later by a federal officer in Minneapolis, ignited
nationwide protests against the Republican president's immigration
enforcement efforts.
No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the fatal
shootings.
Evans said the federal government also has not shared a recorded
statement from an officer who shot Pretti, the firearms used by the
officers, their phones, projectiles and casings, and a gun taken from
Pretti before he was shot.
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