Local law enforcement officials

Minnesota prosecutors are demanding that federal officials share evidence in the killing of Alex Pretti and the shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced she issued the “Touhy” demands, which she compared to subpoenas in state court, during a news conference on Wednesday.

The demands, filed with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, come on the heels of the FBI formally notifying the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension that it would not share evidence into the Pretti killing with local investigators.

“Hiding evidence and obstructing our investigation is unacceptable and indicates a total lack of confidence in their agents’ actions,” Moriarty said.

Moriarty said they gave the federal government until March 3 to meet their demands for information, including the names of the federal agents involved; videos and photographs recorded by federal agents; statements by federal agents; medical records and physical evidence, including firearms, cartridge casings and uniforms.

“We are prepared to take further legal action should the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice fail to meet our deadline and continue to obstruct our investigations,” Moriarty said.

Moriarty’s office has already issued a demand for evidence in the killing of Minneapolis resident Renee Good by an ICE officer but has not received anything from federal officials despite giving them a deadline of Feb. 17.

Emails to the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security were not immediately returned.

The BCA has historically investigated shootings by law enforcement officials but has been blocked from participating in the investigations of federal immigration agents killing Pretti and Good, both U.S. citizens, and shooting a Venezuelan national in the leg, in three separate January incidents in Minneapolis during “Operation Metro Surge.”

The lack of cooperation from the feds hinders local prosecutors in weighing whether criminal charges against the agents are warranted, leading Moriarty and Ellison to begin collecting evidence themselves with the BCA.

Moriarty said on Wednesday the state has received over 1,000 submissions through the portals they set up to collect evidence from the public into the killings of Pretti and Good.

“There’s been some really helpful information there that I don’t think we would have but for those portals,” Moriarty said. “We are grateful to the community, not only for their resistance to what’s been going on here, but for their attempts to help us find accountability in these cases.”

Moriarty said they were “in good shape” to make decisions on whether to bring criminal charges against the federal agents.

In all three incidents, Department of Homeland Security officials made extraordinary statements about the victims. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described Good and Pretti as domestic terrorists within hours of their killings.

Homeland Security, in an official release, initially said Sosa-Celis and another man, Alfredo Aljorna, violently assaulted an officer, leading the agent to fire a defensive shot. The Department of Justice has since dropped felony assault charges against the two men and is instead investigating two ICE officers for lying about the incident.

Public outrage over the Pretti killing appeared to pressure the Trump administration to consider allowing state officials to cooperate on the investigation. The Star Tribune reported that the BCA and FBI were close to announcing a deal on a joint investigation. Then the Trump administration pulled back, apparently because of the leak about the deal, Gov. Tim Walz said on Thursday.

White House border czar Tom Homan announced last week an end to Operation Metro Surge and a drawdown of the thousands of federal immigration agents sent to Minnesota. Immigration enforcement actions continue to be observed across the Twin Cities metro, although at a lesser extent since the announcement.

“We hear from community members that ICE continues to terrorize their neighbors. Their tactics may have changed, but the community feels no safer,” Moriarty said.

The BCA is requesting anyone with information about the shootings of Pretti, Good or Sosa-Celis to contact them at 651-793-7000 or by email at [email protected].