GoKawiilOn Wednesday, January 7, federal immigration enforcement and deportation officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good at approximately 9:37 am local time. That same day, an official from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) texted a Federal Bureau of Investigation counterpart, repeatedly requesting access to the crime scene evidence.
But according to records WIRED obtained through a public records request, the FBI did not respond for at least two days.
The texts appear to have been sent shortly before the FBI, according to the BCA, told the agency that the investigation into Good's death would “be led solely by the FBI” and that the BCA “would no longer have access to the case materials, scene evidence or investigative interviews necessary to complete a thorough and independent investigation.”
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The texts provide new insight on a breakdown in communication between the two agencies that eventually contributed to the BCA, Hennepin County Attorney, and the state of Minnesota filing a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, which includes the FBI. The lawsuit, filed on March 24, demands that federal authorities give state and local law enforcement access to investigative material relevant to the shootings of Good; Alex Pretti, a nurse shot and killed by Border Patrol agents on January 24; and Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan Minneapolis resident shot and injured by a federal immigration agent on January 14.
“The longstanding practice of cooperation and evidence-sharing between federal and Minnesota law enforcement authorities broke down during DHS’s Operation Metro Surge,” the lawsuit claims, adding that this partnership “abruptly ended once federal leadership became involved.”
In response to WIRED’s request for all emails, text messages, and digital communications the agency exchanged with the FBI on January 7 and January 8, the day the public record request was filed, the agency provided an image showing texts exchanged between a top BCA official and the FBI. (The agency added that “no emails were discovered.”)
The image obtained by WIRED, which was seemingly captured between January 9 and 13, shows text messages that appear to have been sent from an iOS device. The BCA says that the texts were sent on January 7 by Drew Evans, the agency’s superintendent to an individual whose name is redacted but is identified in Evans’ device as an “FBI ASAC,” or assistant special agent in charge. The FBI's Minneapolis branch currently has three people with that title, according to its website.
The only text the FBI agent sent was delivered at 11:17 am local time. The message was mostly redacted by the BCA, but it begins with “ERO”—an apparent reference to Enforcement and Removal Operations, the ICE branch that oversees arrests, detainments, and deportations.
At 12:56 pm, Evans sent three messages to the FBI agent in quick succession.
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