Minnesota Sues Trump Admin Over Renee Good and Alex Pretti Killings

Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration Tuesday, accusing it of withholding information related to the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, who were shot by federal officers in Minnesota earlier this year.

The lawsuit claims federal authorities “took exclusive control of evidence,” and refused state and local authorities basic information following both killings, as well as the non-fatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who was shot by a federal agent in Minneapolis.

“Instead of sharing information, federal authorities took exclusive possession of evidence that had been collected, and they denied Minnesota investigators access to key information,” the lawsuit reads. The state argues this failure to cooperate violates its “responsibility to protect against and address violence within its borders, including by prosecuting homicides, attempted homicides, and assaults.”

All three shootings were part of Operation Metro Surge, the destructive incursion of more than 3,000 armed federal immigration officers into Minnesota to arrest, detain, and and take down anyone who got in their way. The Department of Homeland Security said it arrested more than 4,000 undocumented people between December 2025 and February 2026, in what it called what as “the largest DHS operation ever.” It cost Minneapolis more than $200 million in damages.

“The Surge created widespread fear among Minnesota residents, both citizens and noncitizens. It caused hundreds of millions of dollars in economic harm. And it flooded Minnesota’s federal courts with lawsuits challenging the unlawful detentions that resulted from the operation,” the plaintiffs, which include Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, wrote.

Minnesota officials previously accused federal officers of non-cooperation after the DHS took over the investigation into Good’s killing, a decision that was defended by outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Noem is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit alongside Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The state urges cooperation in criminal investigations is essential not only to justice, but a functioning judicial system.

“At stake is not only Plaintiffs’ access to evidence central to these shootings but also a fundamental principle of our constitutional system: that the States retain the sovereign authority—and responsibility—to investigate crimes committed within their borders.”

This story has been updated.