The head of a Minnesota investigative agency looking into the shooting death of Alex Pretti called the FBI’s “lack of cooperation” in the probe “concerning and unprecedented.”
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said the FBI formally notified his agency on Friday that “it will not provide the BCA with access to any information or evidence that it has collected in the Jan. 24 shooting death of Alex Pretti.”
“The BCA reiterated the request to receive information, access to evidence, and cooperation in the Jan. 7 shooting death of Renee Good and the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis. It remains unclear if there will be any cooperation or sharing of information related to those two shootings,” Evans continued.
“While this lack of cooperation is concerning and unprecedented, the BCA is committed to thorough, independent and transparent investigations of these incidents, even if hampered by a lack of access to key information and evidence,” he added.
Evans also said, “Our agency has committed to the FBI and Department of Justice that should its stance change we remain willing to share information that we have obtained with that agency and would welcome a joint investigation,” and, “We will continue to pursue all legal avenues to gain access to relevant information and evidence.”
When asked Tuesday for comment, the FBI referred Fox News Digital to remarks that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made on Jan. 30, the day he announced that the Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation in the shooting death of Pretti.
“We’re looking at everything that would shed light on what happened that day and in the days and weeks leading up to what happened,” Blanche said during a news conference. “That’s like any investigation that the Department of Justice and the FBI do every day. It means we’re looking at video, talking to witnesses, trying to understand what happened.”
A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed Pretti, an ICU nurse at a VA hospital, while he was recording federal officers on a street in Minneapolis.
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Federal officials initially said Pretti approached immigration agents with a 9 mm handgun and resisted when they tried to disarm him, but eyewitness accounts and bystander video raise questions about the government’s version of events.
At the time, Border Patrol agents were conducting enforcement operations in the area when civilians blew whistles and shouted, forcing authorities to tell the crowd to stay on the sidewalk in order to steer clear of law enforcement activity.
Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis in early January. Authorities said she used her car to try to run over federal officers during an enforcement operation.
Sosa-Celis is a Venezuelan national accused of assaulting an ICE officer during a chaotic Minneapolis arrest last month.
Fox News’ Adam Sabes, Michael Dorgan and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.
