Prosecutors Obtain Withheld Evidence in DHS Killings of Queer Mother Renee Good & Nurse Alex Pretti
Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent on January 7, and Pretti was killed only weeks later.
Local Minnesota prosecutors announced on Monday that they’ve received long-sought-after evidence in the shootings that killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti as well as the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis during an immigration crackdown by the Department of Homeland Security in the state earlier this year.
In a press conference, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told reporters that federal authorities handed over hard drives that contained statements, police body cam footage, and other evidence, the Associated Press reports.
Local authorities also received the SUV Good was in when she was shot and killed by an ICE agent.
Good, a 37-year-old queer woman who was a poet, local advocate, and mother of three, died after an ICE agent fired several shots into her car on January 7 in Minneapolis. She had been acting as a citizen observer as ICE swept through her community.
“She was trying to turn around, and the ICE agent was in front of her car, and he pulled out a gun and put it right in – like his midriff was on her bumper – and he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times,” a witness told Minnesota Public Radio News at the time.
In the immediate aftermath, Good’s wife was recorded crying, saying, “I made her come down here, it’s my fault,” and “They just shot my wife.”
Related: Brandi Carlile Pledges $25,000 To Support ICE Detainees In Minnesota
Pretti, a nurse who was also 37, was shot and killed by federal DHS officers during a January 24 protest.
He was directing traffic at a protest before an officer knocked down another protester, according to the 19th. When he went to help her up, he was pepper-sprayed and tackled. His legally registered gun was confiscated, then he was shot.
Both killings led to widespread demonstrations and calls to restrict ICE and DHS.
“The wonderful thing now is we have all the evidence,” Moriarty said, the AP reports. “Any time the government is responsible in whatever way of taking the life of a community member we need to have a full and thorough investigation.”
Moriarty did not discuss why the federal government decided to turn over the evidence now, however, local and state authorities had sued for the evidence.
“We need transparency. We need cooperation. Our community needs it,” she said, according to the Independent. “Our democracy requires it.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he was “deeply troubled” it took half a year to get the evidence.
“It should never have taken this long,” he said in a statement on Monday, the news agency reports. “I hope that this is the beginning of a major course correction on the part of the federal government.”
The AP reports that at least eight people have been killed in immigration enforcement operations since President Donald Trump’s administration began its campaign, cracking down on immigration.
