Federal authorities have told Minnesota investigators they won’t provide access to information on the fatal Jan. 24 shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Formal notification from the FBI to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension came late last week after Gov. Tim Walz signaled optimism that there might still be a joint investigation by state and federal authorities.

“While this lack of cooperation is concerning and unprecedented, the BCA is committed to thorough, independent and transparent investigations of these incidents, even if hampered by a lack of access to key information and evidence,” BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said in a news release. “Our agency has committed to the FBI and Department of Justice that should its stance change we remain willing to share information that we have obtained with that agency and would welcome a joint investigation.”

Other shootings

Typically, the BCA participates in investigations of law enforcement shootings in Minnesota. But after two shootings during a surge of federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota in January, the U.S. Department of Justice has excluded local participation.

Federal agents shot Pretti, 37, last month as protestors confronted an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Two weeks before that, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot 37-year-old Renee Good, also in Minneapolis.

The BCA said it had reiterated a request for information on Good’s shooting and the Jan. 14 shooting that injured Julio Sosa-Celis, a 24-year-old Venezuelan man, during an enforcement operation in north Minneapolis. In the Sosa-Celis case, federal authorities announced an investigation into two immigration officers involved in that shooting after they appeared to have made untruthful statements under oath.

Evans said his agency would continue to investigate the incidents and continue to “pursue all legal avenues to gain access to relevant information and evidence.” The BCA will eventually present its findings to prosecutors for review.

Hennepin County attorney seeks evidence

In response to the federal government’s lack of cooperation, local leaders launched their own investigations last month. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty asked residents to start submitting evidence after Good’s shooting.

In early February, Moriarty submitted a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of ICE and U.S. Border Patrol, officially demanding evidence in the Good case. The “Touhy” letters, formal requests for evidence, set a Feb. 17 deadline.

Moriarty said she also planned to submit similar letters to the FBI on the Pretti case this week. As of Monday, there had been no response from federal authorities on the Good case.

“The federal government’s refusal to cooperate is unsurprising but provides a clear indication that they are not confident in their agents’ actions or their immediate response,” she said in a statement.

Without federal cooperation on the shooting investigations, it may prove difficult for local prosecutors to arrive at a charging decision. Federal investigators first prevented local authorities from accessing information and evidence in the Pretti shooting in January. Their response to the BCA on Feb. 13 was a formal notification.

At a news conference on Feb. 12, Walz said he believed it was possible the state would get cooperation from the Trump administration on an investigation, but that leaked information on talks between the FBI and BCA interfered with the negotiations.

“We were very close,” he said at the time. “I think obviously there’s a contingent inside the FBI and the federal government that understands the only way you do these is through a joint investigation.”

Civil rights investigation

The U.S. Department of Justice is not cooperating with local authorities on the Pretti investigation, but did announce late last month that it was investigating whether federal agents had violated his civil rights. The DOJ is not opening a similar investigation into Good’s shooting, the Associated Press reported.

Major federal immigration enforcement operations appear to be ending in Minnesota.

Federal authorities on Thursday said they’d begin a drawdown of “Operation Metro Surge,” which brought more than 3,000 immigration agents to the Twin Cities in what the Department of Homeland Security described as the largest immigration crackdown in history.

White House border czar Tom Homan said the federal government had achieved its goals in Minnesota and would scale back operations to pre-surge levels.

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By KIMBERLEE KRUESI

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) — Three people, including the suspect, were fatally shot during a Rhode Island youth hockey game Monday, authorities said.

Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves told reporters that three other victims are hospitalized in critical condition.

“It appears that this was a targeted event, that it may be a family dispute,” she said. Goncalves did not provide details about the suspect or the ages of those who were killed, though she said it appeared that both victims were adults.

Authorities were continuing to try to piece together what happened and speak with witnesses, she said.

The shooting happened at Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, a few miles outside Providence.

Outside the arena, tearful families and high school hockey players still in uniform could be seen hugging before they boarded a bus to leave the area. Roads surrounding the arena were shut down as a heavy police presence remained and helicopters flew overhead.

Pawtucket is nestled just north of Providence and right under the Massachusetts state border. A town of just under 80,000, Pawtucket had up until recently been known as the home to Hasbro’s headquarters.

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St. Thomas will begin selling beer and seltzers throughout Lee & Penny Anderson Arena starting Friday, when the men’s hockey team hosts Augustana, the school announced Monday.

Previously, alcohol was only available in premium areas of the arena.

The move comes near the close of Year 1 for the new St. Paul arena, which hasn’t produced massive attendance figures.

There have certainly been examples of how packed the Tommies’ new arena can be — with announced attendances of 4,325 for the St. Thomas men’s hockey team’s first game at the new arena in October and 5,325 for the men’s basketball game against former Division-III rival St. John’s in December.

But those numbers dipped to 2,787 for the men’s hockey game against Michigan Tech on Jan. 31 and 2,612 for the men’s basketball game against Oral Roberts on Feb. 7.

Those numbers have reflected the norms this season, despite the success of both men’s programs. The men’s hockey team is currently in second place in the CCHA, the same spot the basketball team holds in the Summit League.

Perhaps alcohol availability will provide a shot in the arm for the school’s athletic attendance over the next couple weeks. The men’s hockey team hosts Augustana this weekend in a series with massive conference title implications, while the men’s basketball team hosts first-place North Dakota State on Feb. 26.

The women’s basketball team will honor head coach Ruth Sinn during the final home game of her career on Feb. 25.

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By GERALD IMRAY and NALOVA AKUA

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — A new group of third-country nationals was deported by the United States to Cameroon on Monday, lawyers told The Associated Press, days after it came to light that the Trump administration sent nine people to the Central African nation last month as part of its secretive program to remove immigrants to countries they have no ties with.

Lawyer Alma David of the U.S.-based Novo Legal Group said that a group of migrants who were not Cameroonian citizens arrived on a deportation flight that landed in the capital, Yaounde, on Monday.

David and Cameroon-based lawyer Joseph Awah Fru said they believed there were eight third-country nationals on the plane but had not spoken to them yet. The two lawyers said they are giving legal advice to some of the nine migrants — five women and four men — from other African countries who were deported from the U.S. to Cameroon last month.

The lawyers also expected to offer counsel to the new group of deportees, they said.

“For now, my focus is handling their shock,” Fru said.

A White House official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the second deportation flight to Cameroon but gave no details.

The New York Times first reported Saturday on the group of nine sent secretly to Cameroon last month. Two of them have since been repatriated to their home countries, David said.

Most of the deportees had protection orders

Eight of those nine previously deported migrants had protection orders granted by a U.S. immigration judge that prevented them from being deported to their home countries for fear of persecution or torture, David said, some of them because of their sexual orientation and others because of political activity.

Deporting them to a third country like Cameroon, from where they could ultimately be sent home, was effectively a legal “loophole,” David said.

“That is why the United States did not send them directly to their countries,” Fru said. “Because there is cause for concern that they might be harmed, that their lives are threatened.”

David said none of the nine sent to Cameroon last month, which included migrants from Zimbabwe, Morocco and Ghana, had criminal records apart from driving-related offenses. She had no details yet on the eight who arrived on Monday.

African nations are being paid millions

Cameroon, where 93-year-old President Paul Biya has ruled since 1982, is the latest of at least seven African nations to receive deported third-country nationals in a deal with the U.S. Others that have struck deals with the Trump administration include South Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea.

Some of them have received millions of dollars in payments to take deported migrants, according to documents released by the U.S. State Department. Details of some of the other agreements, including the one with Cameroon, have not been released by the Trump administration.

The Trump administration has spent at least $40 million to deport roughly 300 migrants to countries other than their own in Africa, Central America and elsewhere, according to a report compiled by the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and released last week.

According to internal administration documents reviewed by the AP, there are 47 third-country agreements at various stages of negotiation. Of those, 15 have been concluded and 10 are at or near conclusion.

Immigration policies are a ‘top priority’

The U.S. State Department said Monday in a statement to the AP on the Cameroon deportations that it had “no comment on the details of our diplomatic communications with other governments.”

“Implementing the Trump Administration’s immigration policies is a top priority for the Department of State,” it said, adding “we remain unwavering in our commitment to end illegal and mass immigration and bolster America’s border security.”

Cameroon’s Foreign Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed there had been deportations to Cameroon in January but didn’t give specific information on third-country migrants. It did not comment on the second plane.

“We are applying the law as written. If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period,” the department said. “These third-country agreements, which ensure due process under the U.S. Constitution, are essential to the safety of our homeland and the American people.”

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The Trump administration has used third-country deportation deals as a deterrent to force migrants who are in the U.S. illegally to leave on their own, saying they could end up “in any number of third countries” if deported.

It has also defended the practice as part of a crackdown to remove what it refers to as dangerous criminals and gang members.

Activists and lawyers say the U.S. should know that sending migrants to third countries with poor human rights records risks them being denied due process and exposed to abuse.

Last year, the U.S. deported five nationals from Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos to the southern African nation of Eswatini. The deportees had all been convicted of serious criminal offenses, including murder, attempted murder and rape. They had all served their criminal sentences in the U.S.

Four of them have been held at a maximum-security prison in Eswatini for more than six months without charges and have not been allowed to meet in person with a lawyer. Their detentions are the subject of two legal challenges in Eswatini.

Eswatini, which is ruled by a king as Africa’s last absolute monarchy, will be paid $5.1 million to take up to 160 third-country deportees, according to details of the deal released by the State Department. The Eswatini king, Mswati III, has long been accused of clamping down on pro-democracy protests in a country where political parties are banned while using public money to fund his lavish lifestyle.

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. Associated Press writers Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria, and Aamer Madhani in West Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this report.