Bystander Video Fuels Dispute After U.S. Citizen Killed in Minnesota Immigration Operation

Snow still clung to the curbs along Portland Avenue South when the red Honda Pilot rolled into view on the morning of Jan. 7. Within moments, armed federal agents had surrounded the SUV. One officer stepped directly in front of the bumper, drew his handgun and fired through the windshield at close range.

By the time paramedics reached Hennepin County Medical Center, the driver — 37‑year‑old Renee Nicole Macklin Good — had been pronounced dead.

Good, a U.S. citizen, mother of three and published poet who had recently moved to Minnesota, was not the subject of any investigation, according to Minneapolis officials. Yet she was killed during what the Department of Homeland Security described as one of the largest immigration enforcement operations ever conducted in the state.

Her death, captured on multiple bystander videos and broadcast widely online, has ignited a clash between federal officials who say the shooting was an act of self‑defense and local leaders and witnesses who say the footage undercuts that account.

A citizen killed in an immigration sweep

The shooting occurred shortly after 9:30 a.m. in a residential neighborhood near East 34th Street and Portland Avenue South, less than a mile from the intersection where George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.

Federal immigration agents, including officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), were carrying out what DHS has called a “targeted operation” aimed at immigration violations and fraud in the Twin Cities.

Video recorded from several angles shows Good’s Honda Pilot stopped or partly blocking the snow‑covered street as agents in tactical gear cluster around the vehicle. One appears to tug at the driver’s side door handle. The SUV then moves forward slowly. An officer positioned in front of the car raises his firearm and fires at least two shots into the windshield. The SUV continues on, colliding with parked vehicles before coming to a stop.

Minneapolis police said firefighters removed Good from the vehicle and performed life‑saving measures until paramedics arrived. She was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center, where she died of gunshot wounds to the head.

At a news conference later that day, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said there was “nothing to indicate that this woman was the target of any law enforcement investigation or activity.”

Federal officials say officer acted in self‑defense

DHS and ICE officials have said the shooting was justified. In statements and public remarks, they allege Good used her vehicle as a weapon against officers.

According to DHS, the agent fired after Good “weaponized her vehicle” and attempted to run over law enforcement officers who were conducting arrests nearby. Officials said the agent “feared for his life and the lives of his fellow officers and the public” and discharged his weapon in “defensive” fire. DHS also said the officer was evaluated at a hospital and released for injuries related to being struck by the vehicle.

Some senior federal officials have gone further, describing the events leading up to the shooting as an act of “domestic terrorism” by individuals they allege were attempting to disrupt immigration enforcement.

President Donald Trump, in a post on his social media platform, claimed that Good “violently, willfully and viciously ran over the ICE officer” who shot her, calling the agent a “hero” who acted in self‑defense.

Those assertions are now under scrutiny.

Video and witnesses challenge official account

The bystander videos that have circulated on social media do not clearly show Good’s SUV striking any officer. In the most widely shared clips, the vehicle appears to move forward at low speed as agents stand around it. The officer who fires is standing directly in front of the Honda when he raises his gun.

At least one video shows the agent walking away afterward and entering an unmarked vehicle that drives from the scene, with no obvious sign of serious injury.

Witnesses interviewed by local media described the SUV as moving slowly and said Good appeared to be trying to get away from the agents, not attack them.

“One of the officers was right up on the front of her car,” a nearby resident said. “It didn’t look like she was trying to run them over.”

The available footage does not capture every moment of the encounter, and investigators have not released their own analysis. But the gap between the federal description of a violent vehicle assault and what can be seen in public videos has prompted sharp criticism from local officials.

After reviewing the videos, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the narrative that the agent acted in self‑defense was “a garbage narrative. That is not true. It has no truth.” In separate remarks, he told federal agents to “get the [expletive] out of Minneapolis.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called the shooting “the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict,” and said Minnesota did not need additional federal forces in its streets.

Who was Renee Good?

Good, born in Colorado, had recently relocated from the Kansas City, Missouri, area to Minnesota, according to public records and her family.

She studied creative writing and vocal performance, including at Old Dominion University, and won the 2020 Academy of American Poets Prize there for a poem titled “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs.” Online profiles describe her as a poet, writer, former dental assistant, mother and wife.

Her mother, Donna Ganger, said in interviews that Good was not involved in violent protest and was focused on caring for her children.

“She was not part of anything like that at all,” Ganger said. “She was loving and compassionate.”

Good’s former husband said she had dropped their 6‑year‑old son at school that morning and was returning home with her partner when they encountered the federal operation on Portland Avenue.

Some local advocates have said Good was acting as a legal observer of ICE activity; her family and others describe her as a driver trying to get through or away from the scene. Authorities have not publicly clarified why her vehicle was stopped.

A city on edge

News of the shooting spread quickly. Within hours, residents gathered at the crash site, leaving flowers and candles and confronting federal agents still operating in the area. Videos show officers using tear gas and chemical irritants as they moved protesters away from the immediate scene.

Vigils for Good were held that evening near the intersection and later outside the Whipple Federal Building and other federal facilities. Demonstrations spread to Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York City in the days that followed.

The fallout extended into schools and daily life. Minneapolis Public Schools canceled classes and activities for Jan. 8 and 9, citing safety concerns connected to the shooting and other confrontations involving federal agents, including at Roosevelt High School.

For many residents, the location of the shooting revived memories of Floyd’s killing, which led to a Justice Department investigation and a federal consent decree requiring changes in the Minneapolis Police Department’s use‑of‑force policies and accountability systems.

“This happened blocks from where George Floyd was murdered,” said one local pastor who attended a vigil. “People here have not forgotten.”

Investigations and calls for accountability

The FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are jointly investigating the shooting, state officials said. The name of the ICE agent who fired the shots has not been released.

Civil‑rights and immigrant‑rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Center, have called for an independent investigation outside DHS, arguing that ICE lacks effective oversight. A Hennepin County commissioner described the incident as a “murder by ICE agents” in a public statement and said Good had been leaving the scene as a legal observer.

In Washington, Democratic leaders have urged a criminal inquiry. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for a full investigation into the use of deadly force. Rep. Ilhan Omar, who represents Minneapolis, said she was “beyond outraged,” calling ICE’s conduct “reckless” and urging federal agents to leave Minnesota.

Under federal and Minnesota law, officers are allowed to use deadly force if they reasonably believe they or others are in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm. Many local police departments now discourage or prohibit shooting at moving vehicles, warning that such gunfire often does not stop a car and can endanger bystanders.

ICE’s current use‑of‑force policies regarding vehicles have not been made public in detail. It is not yet clear whether the agent’s actions conformed to internal guidelines.

As of Jan. 8, no criminal charges had been announced. The Justice Department has not said whether it will open a separate civil‑rights investigation.

A broader pattern of enforcement

Good’s killing comes amid an escalation of interior immigration enforcement under Trump’s second term. DHS has deployed large teams of agents to cities across the country, often staging high‑profile raids that administration officials say target “criminal aliens,” even as internal data show many of those arrested have no criminal convictions.

Advocates have pointed to a series of deaths and serious injuries linked to immigration operations, including the 2025 death of a farmworker in California who fell from a greenhouse roof while reportedly fleeing an ICE raid. Federal officials often cite incidents in which officers have been struck or nearly struck by vehicles as evidence of the dangers they face.

In Minnesota, where the memory of George Floyd’s murder remains fresh, the shooting of a citizen by a federal agent in a residential neighborhood has intensified debate over how far enforcement should go — and who is at risk when it does.

Good leaves behind three children. At a vigil near the crash site, friends and relatives read from her poetry and urged those gathered to remember her as more than a figure in a national argument over immigration and policing.

“She was a mother, a neighbor, a writer,” one friend said into a cold evening wind. “Whatever the government says about what happened here, that is who she was.”