Minnesota investigators say the Justice Department has again cut off evidence in fatal ICE shootings

The dispute is not just about access to files. It could determine how fully Minnesota officials can examine two fatal encounters involving federal immigration agents.

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Minnesota investigators say the Justice Department has again stopped turning over evidence in the fatal ICE shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, according to court filings described by CNN. The reported cutoff could hamper the state’s review of the killings because investigators say they lack access to key witness statements, phones, weapons and physical evidence.

The dispute matters because Minnesota officials have already experienced months of uneven federal cooperation in the cases. Evidence was turned over earlier this year, state and county officials said in July, but the latest reported reversal has put the focus back on who controls the record in investigations of federal officers’ use of force.

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The central cases involve Good and Pretti, both of whom were fatally shot during a period of immigration-enforcement activity and protests in Minneapolis earlier this year. Minnesota authorities are seeking to conduct their own examination while federal authorities also investigate.

Minnesota officials have argued that access is central to their work. In a January statement, BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said full access to evidence, witnesses and information is necessary to meet the investigative standard that Minnesota law and the public demand.

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According to a sworn statement by Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, state investigators have been blocked from accessing several categories of evidence. CNN reported that the list includes a statement from an officer who shot Pretti.

It also includes the cellphone of the agent who fatally shot Good, Good’s clothing, firearms used in the Pretti shooting, the gun Pretti possessed, and physical evidence from the scene such as projectiles and shell casings, according to the report.

* An officer statement connected to Pretti’s shooting

* The agent’s cellphone in Good’s shooting

* Clothing and firearms associated with the two scenes

* Projectiles, shell casings and other scene evidence

Those materials matter for different reasons. Statements can be compared with video and forensic findings; phones may preserve communications and location information; and weapons and ballistic evidence can help investigators reconstruct timing, positioning and the number and direction of shots. Lack of access does not establish what the evidence would show. It does limit Minnesota’s ability to test competing accounts independently.

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The evidence fight extends beyond the deaths of Good and Pretti. Minnesota authorities are also seeking information in the nonfatal shooting of Venezuelan immigrant Julio Sosa-Celis, CNN reported.

According to CNN, ICE officer Christian Castro faces state and federal charges connected to that shooting and the investigation. The available material does not establish the status or outcome of those proceedings, so the allegations should not be treated as findings of guilt.

The fact that officials are seeking evidence across three incidents broadens the stakes. Minnesota’s concern is not limited to a single scene or a single shooting; it is about whether state investigators can obtain a complete record when federal immigration agents use force in the state.

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Minnesota investigative authorities are battling the Justice Department in federal court in Washington, D.C., for access to evidence needed to continue their work, according to CNN. The litigation gives the disagreement a formal route toward resolution, though the material reviewed here does not describe any timeline for a decision.