The Surge had a profound effect on all of Minnesota, but its impacts were particularly acute in Hennepin County. It was there—during the course of three weeks in January 2026 and at the height of the Surge—that federal agents shot and killed two people on public streets and shot and wounded a third person at the threshold of his home. Renee Good and Alex Pretti lost their lives during the Surge, and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis was wounded, all at the hands of federal agents deployed to Minnesota by Defendants.

These shootings are just three examples of the violent actions committed by federal agents in Minnesota during the Surge. Federal agents also carried out illegal stops, sweeps, arrests, and dangerous raids in sensitive public spaces. 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.

This lawsuit focuses on the three shooting incidents that occurred between January 7 and January 24, 2026, and the federal government’s decision to block a state-level investigation into each incident.

Carrying out their ordinary responsibilities, Minnesota authorities responded to the scene of each shooting to investigate. Because the shootings involved federal agents, state investigators expected federal cooperation, consistent with longstanding historical practices. At the scene of the first two incidents—the killing of Renee Good and the shooting of Julio Sosa Celis—federal agents initially indicated that they would work with Minnesota authorities and share relevant information. State investigators thus began their work in reliance on that understanding.

But in both cases, federal agents quickly reneged on their pledges to cooperate. Instead of sharing information, federal authorities took exclusive possession of evidence that had been collected, and they denied Minnesota investigators access to key information.

At the scene of the third shooting—the killing of Alex Pretti—federal immigration officers physically blocked investigators of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (“BCA”) from accessing the scene. That physical obstruction persisted even after state officials obtained a judicial warrant authorizing access to the scene. As with the previous two shootings, federal authorities took exclusive control of evidence and refused state and local authorities access to even the most basic information related to the incident – such as the identities of the involved officers.

The State of Minnesota has the authority and responsibility to protect against and address violence within its borders, including by prosecuting homicides, attempted homicides, and assaults….

Defendants’ refusals to share evidence here did not arise from any case-specific investigative need. Instead, the breakdown in cooperation followed intervention by senior federal officials who directed that evidence would not be shared with Minnesota authorities, reflecting a broader policy or practice not to share evidence with Minnesota in Operation Metro Surge use of-force investigations.

Faced with unprecedented noncooperation, Plaintiffs submitted formal requests to Defendant U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) and Defendant U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ” or “Justice Department”) seeking access to evidence. Those requests invoked DHS and DOJ’s administrative procedures for evaluating requests for agency records and testimony for use in state proceedings.

Defendants’ responses to those requests—indeed, by and large, their refusal to respond at all—confirm that the federal government has adopted a policy and practice of refusing Minnesota authorities access to investigative materials relating to uses of force by federal immigration officers deployed to Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge. That policy has deprived state investigators of timely access to evidence in federal custody that is directly relevant to their investigations of potential violations of Minnesota criminal law.