People gather at a makeshift memorial for Renee Nicole Good, 37, who was shot and killed at on Wednesday by an ICE officer as she apparently tried to drive away from a group of ICE officers in Minneapolis, Minn.
Charly Triballeau / AFP via Getty Images
The killing of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer inspired a vigil Wednesday night, and it’s sparking protests in Minneapolis and elsewhere on Thursday. Reactions to the shooting reflect outrage over Good’s death and a deep divide in how it’s portrayed – as either a tragic abuse of power or an officer acting in self-defense.
“This is an experienced officer who followed his training,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said of the ICE officer who shot Good, when asked about the case on Thursday during a news conference in New York City.
Noem said the shooting occurred after protesters in Minneapolis harassed and impeded ICE agents on Wednesday and that the officer acted to protect himself and fellow officers. She alleged that Good’s actions amounted to “an act of domestic terrorism.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told NPR’s Morning Edition that he disagrees with Noem’s characterization of Good as a domestic terrorist.
“She was a compassionate neighbor trying to be a legal observer on behalf of her immigrant neighbors,” Ellison said. “That’s what she was doing at the moment of her death. And she was a poet. She was a mom. She was a daughter. And I am deeply saddened by what happened to her and her family.”
Competing narratives quickly emerge
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other local officials have dismissed Noem’s version of events as political spin. At a news conference on Wednesday, Frey said of the self-defense explanation, “Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody that is bull****. ”
“This was a federal agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying,” Frey said, adding that he wants ICE units to leave Minneapolis.
A woman and other demonstrators confront federal officers outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis on Thursday, one day after a federal agent fatally shot a woman in her car in south Minneapolis.
Scott Olson / Getty Images
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he was angered by the killing, which he linked to President Trump’s policy of sending ICE and other federal agents surging into cities such as Minneapolis.
“What we’re seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict,” Walz said on Wednesday. “It’s governing by reality TV and today that recklessness cost someone their life.”
Noem said on Wednesday that she had spoken with Walz about the killing, but added that they don’t agree on whether it was justified: “We have two very different viewpoints on what happened.”
Hours after the shooting, Noem defended the ICE officer who shot Good, saying the woman had blocked federal officers with her SUV and disobeyed orders to get out of her vehicle.
“It’s clearly established law that a vehicle driven by a person and used to harm someone is a deadly weapon,” she said, as NPR reported. “Deadly force is perfectly lawful when a threat is faced by a weapon, so I do believe that this officer used his training in this situation.”
When Noem was asked on Thursday whether the officer remains on field duty, Noem said he had gone to a hospital for treatment, but was then released “and is spending time with his family now.”
Noem also said the federal surge in Minneapolis will continue, and could even grow.
“We’ve got thousands of officers there,” she said, “and I’m not opposed to sending more if necessary to keep people safe.”
Key details of a controversial shooting
Here is a brief overview of what we know so far about the events leading to Good’s death:
When: Police officers responded to reports of shots fired just after 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, according to a timeline published by the city of Minneapolis.
“Minneapolis firefighters then removed the 37-year-old victim from the vehicle and immediately began lifesaving measures until paramedics could respond,” the city’s account states. “She was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center, where she later died.”
Where: Good was shot in her car on Portland Avenue, near East 34th Street, in a residential area a few blocks north of where police killed George Floyd in May 2020.
ICE agents at the scene were trying to deal with a vehicle that had gotten stuck in the snow, Noem said on Wednesday. As other ICE vehicles arrived, so did protesters, a witness named Caitlin Callenson told member station MPR.
How: Callenson, who recorded a video of the incident, told MPR that agents gave Good conflicting orders: One agent told her to drive away while another told her to get out of her SUV, Callenson said.
(Warning: The video at the following link includes violent actions and profanity.)
Video footage from the scene shows Good’s Honda Pilot SUV sitting sideways on a snowy street, with her driver’s side window down. Two uniformed officers approach the vehicle from the left. As one officer grabs at her door handle, a third officer who had circled to the front of the SUV from the opposite side draws his gun. As Good begins to drive away, the officer fires into her car.
“The preliminary information that we have indicates that this woman was in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a news conference Wednesday. “At some point, a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot and the vehicle began to drive off. At least two shots were fired. The vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.”
What’s next: On Wednesday, O’Hara said the FBI and Minnesota’s state agency, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, would jointly investigate the fatal shooting.
But in a statement Thursday, the BCA said that the U.S. Attorney’s Office reversed course at the federal level, and the FBI alone would lead the investigation, as MPR reports. The BCA said it “has reluctantly withdrawn” from the process, because it would no longer have access to case materials and evidence.
Ellison, Minnesota’s attorney general, said that he believes the FBI should not be involved in the inquiry.
“I know that ICE and FBI are different agencies,” Ellison said, “but I think in order for public confidence to be at its best, there is some legitimate question as to what the role the FBI should be playing.”
