A private autopsy has found that Renee Good, the unarmed American mother killed by an immigration officer in Minneapolis, was shot three times, including once in the head. The independent postmortem, commissioned by the family's lawyers, was released late on Wednesday.
The preliminary examination identified gunshot wounds to her left forearm, right breast and left temple, with the bullet exiting the right side of her head. A further graze wound was consistent with a firearm injury but had not penetrated the skin. Two of the wounds were not immediately life-threatening, according to the findings reported by ABC7 News and the New York Times.
The family's legal team, Romanucci and Blandin, declined to publish the full report but said they would continue gathering evidence in connection with her death as part of a civil investigation. The findings are consistent with earlier incident reports and 911 transcripts, which described two apparent chest wounds and a possible head wound.
The killing has inflamed tensions between the Trump administration and local officials. Federal authorities have insisted that Good, described as a legal observer of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation, was a "domestic terrorist" who aimed her car at the agent, and that he fired in self-defence. However, video footage shows her steering away, with at least two shots fired from the side of the vehicle.
State officials are angry at being excluded from the FBI inquiry, which is instead examining Good's widow and Democratic leaders including Minnesota's governor and mayor, rather than the officer, Jonathan Ross. The Department of Justice has said the video evidence cleared Ross and that no criminal investigation is under way. The deputy attorney general said the department does not act on the say-so of politicians. A number of federal prosecutors have resigned in protest.
The vice-president, JD Vance, is due to visit Minneapolis on Thursday to speak in support of the deployment of 3,000 federal law enforcement officers to the area.
