Sen. Amy Klobuchar questions FBI Director Kash Patel over Renee Good, Alex Pretti investigations

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar questioned FBI Director Kash Patel in a Senate hearing Tuesday over the federal investigations into the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti earlier this year in Minneapolis amid Operation Metro Surge.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Good, 37, on a south Minneapolis street on Jan. 7. Seventeen days later, U.S. Border Patrol agents fatally shot Pretti, also 37, about a mile away from where Good was gunned down.

"Alex Pretti's parents have spoken out about wanting to get meaningful information about the status of the investigation, and I know the FBI takes pride in how it treats victims," Klobuchar said. "Will you ensure that the bureau provides meaningful information to the families in these cases?"

"Yes," Patel said.

"So is the lead agency then, in your mind, is going to be the state and the locals for the Renee Good and Alex Pretti shootings?" Klobuchar said. "Because, again, we're going to have to have cooperation as we have in all of the instances I mentioned about: Annunciation, Melissa and Mark Hortman's killing and others." 

"We will fully support all those investigations, it doesn't matter if it's a state investigation, federal investigation, bureau investigation, DHS investigation," Patel said. "We're fully committed to support all of them."

The FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice withheld evidence and refused to cooperate in the investigations for nearly six months.

Just last week, an attorney for a witness to Pretti's shooting says the FBI interviewed their client. Both the U.S. Attorney's Office for Minnesota and the FBI declined to confirm if the meeting happened.

WCCO spoke recently with Steven Schleicher, the attorney representing Pretti's parents, Susan and Michael Pretti. Schleicher called the investigation "an absolute nightmare" and said the Prettis are still in the dark, as is the public, over the identities of the Border Patrol agents who opened fire that day.

"It's painful and, frankly, it's cruel," Schleicher said. "What the Prettis want is to quietly grieve their son, but they're not allowed to do that."

In late July, Susan Pretti also released a statement saying in part, "six months of pain, a rollercoaster of trauma over and over."