A Judge Granted the Minnesota Attorney General's Request for a Temporary Restraining Order, asking the Court to Prevent Federal Officials from Destroying any Evidence related to the Fatal Shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol Agents. Minnesota District Judge Eric Tostrud said in the Order, the Defendants including Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem (R), Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Officer Todd Lyons (R), U.S. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino (R), Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) and FBI Director Kash Patel (R), are Barred from Destroying or Altering Evidence.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D), at a News Conference, said Filing the Lawsuit on Behalf of the Hennepin County Attorney's Office and State's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, was Not a "Rash Decision."
Homeland Security attempted to Block Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) Investigators from Collecting Evidence Saturday Morning. BCA Superintendent Drew Evans (D) said they eventually received a Warrant to Access the Shooting Site. However, Ellison said Sunday, they were still Refused Access. Federal Authorities also recently Blocked BCA from Examining Evidence in the Jan. 7th ICE Killing of 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis.
"This is uncharted territory now, friends, this comes at the tail end of other offenses," Ellison said. "I don't care if you're a conservative, liberal, or whatever, but you should at least be in favor of conserving evidence in a homicide."
Ellison noted State Officials haven't previously taken these Measures. The idea that a Federal Government Agent might "even think about doing such a thing was completely unforeseeable only a few weeks ago -but now this is what we have to do," He said.
"The irreparable harm we would suffer if the federal government were allowed to destroy evidence is so weighty that any harm to the federal government does not even budge the scales in a court. It's imperative that we preserve as much evidence as possible so that the state investigators are allowed to access the evidence to ensure a fair, thorough investigation," Ellison said.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin (R) said in an Emailed Statement, that Claims the Federal Government would Destroy Evidence are "a ridiculous attempt to divide the American people and distract from the fact that our law enforcement officers were attacked - and their lives were threatened - yesterday." She added DHS is Actively Investigating the Shooting.
DHS issued a Statement after the Shooting that said Pretti "approached the agents with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun." However, Witnesses say He did Nnot see him reaching for or holding a Weapon. Videos of the Shooting circulating on Social Media, and Verified by National and Local Outlets do Not show Pretti Holding any kind of Weapon. Another Hhearing on the Matter is set for Monday Afternoon.
State Officials have also Filed a Federal Lawsuit over 3,000 Federal Immigration Agents deployed to Minnesota, as Part of what the Trump Administration Calls "Operation Metro Surge". During Sunday's News Conference, Ellison called this Surge "Unprecedented."
"There have been times in American history where they've deported a lot of people, but a concentrated deployment of ICE agents in one state in one period of time is unprecedented, and therefore there's no playbook, and therefore nobody knows exactly how to deal with this situation," Ellison said.
As part of Operation Metro Surge, Ellison said, "countless numbers of people" have been Stopped and asked for their Papers; Stores have had to Shut and Students aren't going to School out of Fear, along with Three Shootings by Federal Agents.
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