According to President Donald Trump, the 37-year-old Minneapolis woman who was murdered by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Wednesday—Renee Nicole Good—is to blame for her own death.
Most witnesses and almost everyone who reviewed numerous videos taken at the scene, however, concluded she was killed by an ICE agent who fired at her through the driver’s window of her vehicle as she was trying to drive away from him.
Despite that preliminary evidence and before any investigation had even begun, Trump told reporters yesterday that the woman was to blame because “she attempted to run over” the agent. Later, he said she actually had run him over. “She behaved horribly,” Trump said. “And then she ran him over. She didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, also with no evidence, said that the woman was “stalking” officers and that the killer “used his training to save his own life and that of his colleagues.” Administration officials branded Good a “terrorist.”
According to Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who represents the district in which the shooting occurred, the victim was simply observing what ICE was doing. U.S. citizens like the victim, along with hundreds from coast to coast, act as legal observers when ICE raids happen. They do not participate in the actual demonstrations.
State and local officials expressed outrage at the Trump and Noem defense of a violent killing by an ICE agent.
The videos available to everyone now across the country clearly show a Honda sticking out onto a snow-covered residential street. The driver, apparently trying to move her vehicle so she would not block oncoming traffic, moves her vehicle forward but stops so she can still leave enough room for vehicles coming along and wanting to pass. She hand-signals approaching cars to let them know to pass her by.
A truck then approaches but does not pass her. It stops, and ICE agents come out of it. Two agents come over to the driver-side window, and one tries to open the door of her vehicle as he tells her to get out. The agent reaches into the driver-side window and as she moves a bit in reverse to get away from him, another agent moves in front of her vehicle.
As she begins to slowly move ahead again, the agent at the front of the vehicle, near the driver-side headlight, pulls out a gun, and aims at her. She turns the wheel to the right to get away from him. He begins firing at her as she passes him on the right. He continues to shoot at her after she passes him. The car accelerates and crashes into two parked vehicles and a lamp post. The ICE agent who fired his gun walks up to the crashed vehicle and then walks away, telling other agents to call 911.
Good was pronounced dead at the hospital but was apparently already deceased when the ambulance arrived several minutes after the shooting and crash. A witness who lives on the block told MS-NOW Wednesday night that they carried her to the ambulance, holding her by the limbs, not by putting her on a stretcher. “It was like she was nothing more than a sack of potatoes,” the witness said.
The witness noted that a man offered to administer CPR right after the shooting, but the agents did not allow him to do so. Photos taken after the shooting showed the inflated air bag on the driver-side of the Honda covered with blood.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called Noem’s claims about what happened “bullshit” and described the murder as “an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.
“I have one thing to say about ICE,” he said. “Get the fuck out of Minneapolis.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said of the federal government’s statements on the killing: “Don’t believe the propaganda.”
The Trump-controlled FBI announced Thursday that it is taking over the entire investigation, forbidding local police, county, city, and state bodies from conducting any probes into the killing. Confidence levels in any agency findings are expected to be low, since the FBI is answerable to Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The killing happened after the recent announcement that 2,000 ICE agents are beginning a massive sweep in Minneapolis. The largely Democratic city, led by Trump opponents, is a major target of the administration.
The massive ICE raids follow racist attacks on the Somali community in the city, including accusations that they are responsible for fraud when it comes to the handling of federal funds for daycare. The Trump administration has frozen already appropriated funds for provision of daycare services in the city and nationwide.
It is seen as laying the groundwork for similar attacks on Democratic-run entities across the nation. Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul went on national television Thursday morning, saying that funds her state was slated to receive have also been frozen in a clear attempt to prevent establishment of universal daycare supported by both her and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Thousands turned out in vigils Wednesday night in Minneapolis to protest the killing and to remember the victim. There is a growing mound of flowers surrounding the spot where the murder took place, which was only a half-mile from where George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police in 2020, triggering a massive nationwide movement for ending racist police violence and calling for expansion of civil rights laws nationally.
The attack by ICE Wednesday came as whistles were being blown up and down the street. Whistles are the go-to tool people use when they want to warn about approaching ICE agents.
Opposition to the killing is spreading far and wide across the country. Included in that movement are labor unions, with the Minnesota AFL-CIO coming out strong right after the shooting.
Bernie Burnham, the Minnesota federation’s president, declared, “Minnesota’s labor movement is shocked, heartbroken, and angry over the murder of an innocent observer by an ICE agent today. The reckless actions we’re seeing are striking fear into the hearts of Minnesotans—both immigrants and anyone who dares to dissent—and making communities less safe for workers and families.
“We stand in solidarity with committed residents who find the courage every day to protect their immigrant neighbors and coworkers from ICE agents violently trampling on our constitutional rights. Our hearts are especially with the victim’s family and loved ones.”
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