Court records detail prior incident involving ICE officer who shot and killed Minneapolis woman
Agent allegedly involved in fatal Minneapolis shooting was dragged by another driver's vehicle in June
Further information emerged Thursday about the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) officer who shot and killed a woman inside her vehicle in Minneapolis.
The officer involved with Wednesday's shooting was dragged nearly 100 metres by a different driver's vehicle during a separate immigration operation in the Twin Cities region six months ago, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The officer needed more than 30 stitches after the June incident in Bloomington, Minn. The suspect in that incident was convicted of assault several weeks ago.
Vice-President JD Vance and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke about the officer at length during a news conference on Thursday, doubling down on their account that the agent was defending himself when he shot Good.
Local and state officials have repeatedly rejected the Trump administration's version of events, saying video evidence directly contradicts the notion that Good deliberately "weaponized" her vehicle to drive at the officer.
“[T]hat very ICE officer nearly had his life ended, dragged by a car six months ago," Vance said at the White House on Thursday. "So you think maybe he’s a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile?"
Federal officials declined to identify the agent by name and CBC News has been unable to independently verify the agent's identity, but the details Vance and Noem supplied closely match those in federal court documents of an incident involving an ICE officer in Bloomington last June.
Court documents reviewed by CBC News say an agent, identified as Jonathan Ross, was dragged as officers tried to arrest Roberto Carlos Muñoz. Muñoz, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, had been criminally convicted of sexually assaulting his teenage stepdaughter three years prior.
An affidavit from an FBI agent said federal law enforcement approached Muñoz in his car outside his home on June 19, but he drove away. Agents followed Muñoz, pulled him over and asked for identification. Muñoz provided his identification but refused to get out of the car, the affidavit said.
The officer, believed to be the same one who allegedly shot Good, then broke the rear driver's side window of Muñoz's car and tried to reach for the lock on the driver's door. Court documents say Muñoz drove away with the agent's arm stuck in the vehicle, dragging him nearly 100 metres over about 12 seconds. The officer was knocked loose when Muñoz hit a curb.
U.S. District Court records identify that agent as Jonathan Ross. No officer, by that name or otherwise, has been charged with any crime in connection to the killing.
Vance said the officer needed 33 stitches to his leg, but court documents indicate he had stitches on his right arm and left hand. Photos included in an FBI agent's affidavit show a man, whose face is not visible, lying on a cot with visible injuries.
The officer had "abrasions" on his left knee, elbows and face, according to the sworn statement from the FBI agent.
A jury convicted Muñoz last month on one count of assaulting a federal officer, reaching its decision after a little more than two hours of deliberation.
Officials face off over differing accounts
On Thursday, the rift between local and federal officials grew deeper after Good was killed in Minneapolis and two more people were shot and injured by border patrol officers in Portland, Ore.
DHS officials, including Noem, defended the shooting in the Twin Cities region as self-defence and claimed Good was trying to ram agents in an act of "domestic terrorism."
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said that description was "bullshit" and "garbage" based on bystander videos, which appeared to contradict the government's account.
Video verified by CBC News shows the seconds before the shooting.
Two ICE officers approach the Honda Pilot SUV and one of them tells the driver to get out of the car, then tries to open the driver's side door. The SUV reverses briefly and a third officer steps in front of the vehicle.
As the vehicle starts to move forward with its wheels turned away from the agents, the officer near the front of the vehicle can be seen drawing his gun and firing three shots into the driver's side of the vehicle.
The vehicle continued moving to the side of the street, where it crashed into a parked car as bystanders screamed.
Good, a mother of three children, was a U.S. citizen born in Colorado who appears to never have been charged with anything involving law enforcement beyond a traffic ticket.
In social media accounts, Good described herself as a "poet and writer and wife and mom." She said she was currently “experiencing Minneapolis,” displaying a pride flag emoji on her Instagram account.
A profile picture posted to Pinterest shows her smiling and holding a young child against her cheek, along with posts about tattoos, hairstyles and home decorating.
With files from The Associated Press and Reuters