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Minnesota Sues DOJ and DHS to Force Access to Evidence in Three Metro Surge Shootings

The case tests Minnesota's authority to run its own criminal probes against federal control of shooting evidence from Operation Metro Surge.

Overview

  • Minnesota, which filed the case Tuesday in D.C. federal court, seeks orders compelling the Justice and Homeland Security departments to share evidence and to strike down what it calls a blanket policy of withholding.
  • The complaint says the FBI first agreed to a joint probe in Renee Good’s killing, then reversed course the same day, blocked BCA interviews and access to scene materials, and kept Good’s car shrink-wrapped in an FBI facility while telling the state only DHS’s inspector general could get the evidence.
  • In Alex Pretti’s fatal shooting, state investigators say federal immigration officers physically blocked the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from the scene even after a judge signed a warrant, and agencies have refused to disclose the officers’ names.
  • The filing covers three January incidents, including the nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, where two ICE agents were suspended and face a criminal inquiry into whether they lied, which state officials say shows why timely access to records and objects matters.
  • State prosecutors argue this breaks long-standing norms for parallel state–federal investigations governed by Touhy rules, raising a federalism fight that could shape whether Minnesota can evaluate charges and how families get answers about the agents’ use of force.