Governor says shutting out state investigators will hurt trust in the case, while Kristi Noem and JD Vance say the ICE officer acted in self-defense.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said on Thursday that the Trump administration has cut state investigators out of the probe into an ICE officer’s fatal shooting of SUV driver Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, a view disputed by Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Noem told reporters on Jan. 8 that Minnesota has “not been cut out. … They don’t have any jurisdiction in this investigation.” Vice President JD Vance later offered that state officials should instead be investigating protesters they accuse of harassing and obstructing the federal agents who are operating there.
“The precedent here is very simple,” Vance stated in a press conference at the White House. “You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action. That’s a federal issue.”
Walz said the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) spent Wednesday trying to secure a role in the case and was told that federal officials would not allow a joint investigation. He said state officials were initially invited into the investigation but that the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office later took over the case.
“We have learned that the Trump administration has now denied the state that ability to participate in the investigation,” Walz said. “And I always want to make this as clear as possible to everyone. Minnesota must be part of this investigation.”
Good, 37, was behind the wheel of her SUV Wednesday when she was shot and killed by an ICE officer during an immigration enforcement operation and traffic stop in Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security and Vance have said the officer fired to protect himself against Good’s vehicle in a hostile environment created by protesters who had followed ICE teams.
Noem said officers were trying to free a car stuck in the snow when they were “surrounded and assaulted and blocked in by protesters” who had trailed them “all day,” harassing agents and “impeding our law enforcement operations, which is against the law.” She called the incident “an act of domestic terrorism” and said the officer is an experienced agent who “followed his training.”
“This vehicle was used to hit this officer. It was used as a weapon, and the officer feels as though his life was in jeopardy,” Noem said, adding that vehicles have been used “almost over 100 times” to ram officers.
By Chase Smith
