Justice Department will probe Alex Pretti's killing in civil rights investigation

The Department of Justice is participating successful a civilian rights probe into the decease of Alex Pretti, who was changeable and killed by 2 Border Patrol agents successful Minneapolis amid a national migration crackdown.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stopped abbreviated of formally calling it a civilian rights investigation, however, and declined to sermon the scope of what the FBI volition beryllium examining. He said helium did not privation to overstate the move, and alternatively characterized it arsenic a "standard probe by the FBI erstwhile determination are circumstances similar what we saw past Saturday." 

"And that investigation, to the grade it needs to impact lawyers astatine the civilian rights division, it volition impact those," helium said astatine a property conference.

Blanche said helium would not perpetrate to releasing immoderate assemblage camera footage of the shooting. 

The announcement comes aft the FBI connected Friday said it would pb the probe into Pretti's shooting. 

Previously, Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations branch had been spearheading the probe, an antithetic determination according to existent and erstwhile instrumentality enforcement officials. HSI is not typically tasked with investigating instrumentality enforcement shootings and does not person the instrumentality to grip specified evidence, the officials said. 

Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was the 2nd U.S. national killed successful Minneapolis by national agents this month. Renee Good, a parent and poet, was killed by an ICE cause connected Jan. 7.

After Good's shooting and the determination not to unfastened a civilian rights probe into her death, respective vocation prosecutors successful the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, arsenic good arsenic successful the U.S. Attorney's bureau successful Minnesota, resigned. 

Federal prosecutors successful Minneapolis earlier this week pressed the U.S. attorney implicit the deficiency of a civilian rights probe and warned that much resignations could come. 

In:

• United States Department of Justice
• Minneapolis