Six prosecutors resigned over the murder of Renee Goode in Minnesota after they were pressured to pursue a case against the victim's widow.

Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned on January 13 amid pressure from the Justice Department to investigate the widow woman killed by ICE agent, and also because the department does not want to investigate the actions of the shooter, he writes The New York Times.

Joseph H. Thompson, a career federal prosecutor who served as acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota last year, was among those who resigned. According to three sources with knowledge of the matter, he resigned because of the Justice Department's efforts to investigate the slain woman's widow's alleged ties to activist groups.

Joseph H. Thompson held the second-highest position in the U.S. attorney's office and oversaw a massive fraud investigation that rocked Minnesota.

On the subject: An ICE agent killed a Minneapolis woman: accounts of the incident differ widely.

Thompson's resignation came after senior Justice Department officials began pushing for a criminal investigation into the actions of Renee Goode, the widow of Minneapolis resident who was killed by an ICE agent on Wednesday, January 7.

Thompson, a 47-year-old career prosecutor, objected to that approach, as well as to the Justice Department's refusal to involve state officials in determining whether the shooting was lawful, people familiar with his decision said.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara stated that Thompson's resignation dealt a serious blow to efforts to curb large-scale embezzlement from government agencies. Fraud cases involving schemes to embezzle funds allocated for social assistance programs were cited by the Trump administration as the main reason for tightening immigration policies in the state. The overwhelming majority of those charged in these cases are U.S. citizens of Somali descent.

"When you lose the person in charge of handling fraud cases, it tells you that it's not really about fighting fraud," O'Hara said.

Other senior career prosecutors who resigned include Harry Jacobs, Melinda Williams, and Thomas Calhoun-Lopez. Jacobs served as Thompson's deputy and oversaw the fraud investigation that began in 2022. Calhoun-Lopez led the Violent and Major Crimes Unit.

Thompson, Jacobs, Williams and Calhoun-Lopez declined to discuss their reasons for leaving their positions.

The January 13 resignations followed tense days at the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota, as prosecutors locally and in Washington struggled to cope with the outcry over the killing of Renee Goode, which sparked protests in Minnesota and across the country.

After Goode's shooting, Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, informed her staff that she would not consider investigating whether the agent had violated federal law, according to three current and former department officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. They also said four prosecutors who had already planned to leave their positions or retire indicated they would expedite their departures.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch said there is "no basis at this time for a criminal investigation into possible civil rights violations" against the ICE agent.

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Instead, the Justice Department launched an investigation into the connections between Renee Goode and her wife, Becca, and several groups that have been monitoring and protesting the actions of immigration agents in recent weeks. Shortly after Goode's murder, Department of Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem labeled her a "domestic terrorist."

Becca Goode said last week that she and her wife "stopped to support neighbors" when they became involved in a tense standoff with ICE agents that led to gunfire. "We had whistles," Becca Goode wrote. "They had guns."

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