At least six prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota have resigned over their concerns with the direction of the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, a person familiar with the resignations told NBC News on Tuesday.
The person confirmed the resignations of Joseph Thompson, Melinda Williams and four other attorneys. The two named attorneys, Thompson and Williams, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment by NBC News.
The attorneys had felt pressure from Justice Department leadership, both in Minneapolis and in Washington, to investigate any ties to activist groups by Good and her widow, said a law enforcement official with knowledge of their decisions. The official said the prosecutors were also concerned about a decision to cut out state and local authorities from the federal investigation.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Thompson was a “principled public servant” who spent more than a decade in law enforcement in the state.
“This is a huge loss for our state,” Walz said of the resignations. “This is the latest sign that President Trump is pushing nonpartisan career professionals out of the Department of Justice.”
Good was in the driver’s seat of an SUV in a residential part of Minneapolis last week when she was killed.
Video from eyewitnesses shows officers telling Good to get out of her car before she begins driving away. Gunshots can be heard, and the SUV slams into a parked vehicle. Video obtained by NBC News that appears to have been recorded by Jonathan Ross, the officer who shot Good, captured Good and her wife talking to an officer in the moments before he opened fire.
In the video, Good turns the steering wheel to her right, away from the officer, as she begins to drive.
Ross shouts what sounds like “whoa” and fires, as multiple shots can be heard in the video. The view of his phone camera jerks around, points up to the sky and captures a glimpse of his masked face.
Ross’ phone levels out and captures the SUV accelerating down the street. A male voice said, “f-----g bitch” moments before Good’s car crashes.
The FBI is investigating. But Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Tuesday there was "currently no basis" for an investigation by the criminal section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
ICE’s Office of Public Responsibility is conducting its own internal investigation, Blanche said, as is protocol for the agency after every officer-involved shooting. Any investigation runs parallel to the FBI’s investigation into the shooting, a Justice Department official said.
The Department of Homeland Security has said Good, an award-winning poet, “weaponized” her vehicle against the ICE officer who fatally shot her in self-defense.
Local and state officials have disputed that claim, saying Good, 37, was only trying to leave the scene.
Officials in Minnesota have criticized federal authorities for barring the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from participating in the investigation. Asked about the decision last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused state investigators of allowing people to harass and incite violence against federal officers.
The New York Times first reported the resignations.
Thompson, one of the prosecutors who resigned, oversaw a yearslong investigation that resulted in dozens of charges against people accused of defrauding millions of dollars in government funds. The Trump administration cited the fraud investigation when it dispatched ICE officers to Minnesota.
The statement from the governor’s office said Thompson “has worked extensively with state regulators and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to bring federal prosecutions against fraud involving public programs. His work supported oversight, enforcement, and program integrity.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a statement about the resignations, “The legitimacy of the justice system depends on institutions — not rhetoric.”
“Joe Thompson is an institution within law enforcement, directly responsible for building and prosecuting the fraud cases now being cited to justify this moment,” he said, referring to allegations of fraud at child care facilities.
“When you lose the leader responsible for making those cases, it signals that this isn’t about prosecuting fraud,” O’Hara said in the statement.
Last week, the Trump administration deployed more than 2,000 officers and agents from ICE and Homeland Security Investigations to Minneapolis after a right-wing influencer accused several Somali-run day care facilities of fraud.
State officials who investigated the allegations said they found no evidence to back up the claims.
Within the main Justice Department in Washington, at least six leaders at the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division were taking early retirement, two people familiar with the matter told NBC News. A third person familiar with the departures said that they were planned before the Minnesota shooting.
The division, which is tasked in part with investigating possible abuse by law enforcement, has lost hundreds of attorneys since President Donald Trump returned to office. MS NOW first reported on the departures.
Kristen Clarke, the former head of the division under President Joe Biden, said the departures would have a major impact.
“The hollowing out of the Civil Rights Division’s national expertise hurts every American,” Clarke said. “Unparalleled expertise and commitment to impartiality is precisely what’s needed in this moment.”
