The FBI has taken full control of the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Macklin Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) officer in Minneapolis, it emerged on Thursday.
In a statement, the Minneosta Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said it was initially called upon to help investigate the shooting before federal officials “reversed course” and said the case would be “solely led by the FBI”. With its access to the case materials, witnesses and evidence revoked, the BCA said it had to “reluctantly” withdraw from the investigation.
In a post on X, the city of Minneapolis said the federal decision to remove the BCA from the probe was “deeply disappointing” and called for “a clear and transparent process that includes state investigating agencies”.
The reversal from federal law enforcement comes as Donald Trump and homeland security secretary Kristi Noem have justified Wednesday’s shooting by accusing Macklin Good of engaging in “an act of domestic terrorism” and claiming that the ICE agent who shot her was acting in “self-defense”, alleging she had tried to run him over.
The Trump administration’s narrative is at odds with video footage of the incident, which has been widely shared online. It shows Macklin Good reversing her car and letting at least one ICE vehicle pass before an officer tells her to get out of the car, she then tries to turn and drive away. The agent shoots her multiple times, remains on his feet and walks away apparently uninjured as her car crashes into a lamp-post and parked vehicle.
Democrats have blasted the Trump administration’s characterization of the incident, and Minnesota’s governor Tim Walz said he was pessimistic that a “fair outcome” would come from the federal investigation. “It feels very, very difficult that we will get a fair outcome,” he said on Thursday.
“And I say that only because people in positions of power have already passed judgment, from the president to the vice-president, to Kristi Noem, have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate. They have determined the character of a 37-year-old mom that they didn’t even know.”
Noem, he said, had assumed the role of “judge, jury and basically executioner yesterday”.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Noem denied that the BCA had been “cut out” of the investigation. She continued to defend the federal agent – whom she described as “an experienced officer” – and said he had been treated in hospital after the incident.
Authorities in Minneapolis had canceled school classes across the city on Thursday amid safety concerns and rising political tension after the US citizen and mother-of-three was killed during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation.
A demonstration attended by thousands on Wednesday night went peacefully after the fatal shooting hours earlier.
Scores of people bundled up in heavy coats gathered in a parking lot near a building that houses several federal agencies, including an immigration court. The crowd was chanting and holding American flags and signs calling on ICE to leave Minnesota.
Police at one point threw devices releasing smoke to break up the crowd, which carried signs and shouted profanities at them.
One of the protesters, Patrick Riley, told the Associated Press: “We are peacefully demonstrating. We’re trying to let this organization know that they’re not welcome.”
But emotions remained high in the city – and across the US.
“Trump wants a show. Don’t give it to him,” Walz posted on X on Wednesday night, urging protesters to remain calm. He said he had issued a “warning order” for possible deployment of the Minnesota national guard.
Ilhan Omar posted on social media Thursday morning that thousands had gathered to honor the victim last night, and that “ICE needs to get out of Minneapolis”.
“We will never accept that a single federal agent can be judge, jury and executioner in our streets,” the Minnesota congresswoman said.
Jacob Frey, the Minneapolis mayor, made several appearances on television networks Wednesday night calling for peaceful protests and doubling down on his comments at a press conference earlier in the day in which he called for ICE “to get the fuck out of Minneapolis”.
“People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart. Long-term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy are being terrorized, and now, somebody is dead,” Frey said.
He said the homeland security department was already “trying to spin this as an action of self-defense”, a claim he said was “bullshit”.
Some Republicans seized on Frey’s comments as incendiary, with Nancy Mace, a South Carolina congresswoman, calling for the resignation of the mayor and Walz.
Yet much of the political rhetoric continued to come from the White House, with Trump telling reporters from the New York Times on Wednesday night that Macklin Good was at fault.
“She behaved horribly,” said Trump, who posted to Truth Social earlier in the day without evidence that she “viciously ran over the ICE Officer”.
“And then she ran him over. She didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over,” the president said.
Noem said the woman had been “stalking” the ICE agents and blocking traffic, another claim not supported by the video.
Noem also stated that ICE operations would continue in Minneapolis, which saw a surge of about 2,000 federal agents this week to target immigrant populations.
Residents in the city, which has a large Somali population, described the mood as “on edge and angry” on Thursday, with more demonstrations planned for later in the day.
Anti-ICE protests took place in a number of US cities on Wednesday after news of the incident spread, and more are scheduled for Thursday, including in New York, Houston and San Diego.
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