The ICE shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis is the latest example of how broken America is now
Renee Nicole Good was just 37 when she was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis Wednesday.
Why? There is no clear reason for this atrocity.
On her Instagram account, Good described herself as a “poet and writer and wife and mom and shitty guitar strummer from Colorado; experiencing Minneapolis, MN.”
Her mother, Donna Ganger, said she was stunned by her daughter’s death. Ganger said this tragic end is far from what she could have expected.
“Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” she said. “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”
Good was shot in the head and killed as she tried to drive past Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who were swarming her vehicle. She was not driving her Honda Pilot at a high rate of speed when one agent fired three shots at point-blank range.
Good bled to death on a cold, snowy street in central Minneapolis. A man who identified himself as a doctor was kept away from her for 15 minutes, and ICE vehicles blocked the way for emergency first-responders.
This is our new reality. People can be attacked by masked men for no reason and if they try to flee, they will be killed. The New York Times reports that this is the ninth shooting by an ICE agent in the last four months. A man in suburban Chicago was killed on Sept. 12.
Homeland Security officials claim Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez was using his vehicle as a weapon. There is video evidence that he was in fact backing up and trying to drive away when he was shot.
Two other people have died when being chased by ICE agents, one in a fall and one when he was struck by a vehicle on a highway. The toll is sure to grow higher.
On Wednesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was blunt. Claims that the agent acted in self-defense are “bullshit,” Frey said. “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.”
He had one piece of advice:
“To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here,” Frey said. “Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite.”
Gov. Tim Walz said the Trump administration’s claims are “propaganda.”
“I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine,” Walz wrote on X. “The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”
He said the Trump team of masked, armed men that now shoots unarmed women on America’s streets will not tear the country apart.
“What we’re seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict,” Walz said in a press conference. “It’s governance by reality TV. And today that recklessness cost someone their life.”
He said he had reached out to Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and was waiting to hear back. I think we can be confident if there is a response from the former South Dakota governor, it will be devoid of human compassion.
Noem wore a cowboy hat tilted low over her eyes for a press conference. Got to be in the right costume.
“It was an act of domestic terrorism,” she said.
President Donald Trump, as usual, spewed lies, saying Good was “very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.”
No, the officer was not run over. He seemed completely uninjured, although Trump claimed he was lucky to be alive. Both he and Noem claimed the agent went to a hospital for an examination. He wasn’t left to suffer and die in the snow.
Their version of the fatal incident is so far from the truth to be laughable — if Renee Nicole Good hadn’t been shot in the head and killed.
Walz urged people outraged by the fatal shooting to control their anger and protest peacefully. Don’t give Trump, Noem and their armed, highly dangerous troops an excuse to kill again.
I witnessed such a protest in downtown Sioux Falls Wednesday night. A small group of people gathered in front of the Federal Courthouse to express their sadness, anger and determination to stand against such an atrocity.
Roni Wegner of Indivisible 605 organized the pop-up protests at the courthouse and on 41st Street in Sioux Falls. While many people drove by and honked and held up a thumb in support, others revved their engines, flipped the bird and shouted obscenities.
That is where we are as a country. Millions of us are shocked, saddened and angered that a woman was killed by federal agents for no apparent reason. Others are blaming her, celebrating her death and vowing their support for the Trump regime.
Trump promised a crackdown on undocumented people during the 2024 campaign and he has allowed Noem to dispatch her masked and armed men into our streets, workplaces and homes. They have been tossing people into vans and dragging them from families.
Now, they are shooting and killing them. Yes, it’s come to that in America.
Are we going to do anything about it? Can we? Will things just grow more dangerous and violent?
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission.
Photo: Protestors on 41st Street in Sioux Falls registered their anger and despair over the killing of Renee Nicole Good. Courtesy Roni Wegner
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