ICE officer shoots and kills Minneapolis woman during immigration enforcement

The death was described by the AP as at least the fifth linked to federal immigration enforcement operations under the Trump administration. It set off a sharp public dispute between Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who called the shooting self-defense, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who reviewed the footage and called that account false.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis woman Wednesday morning during a federal immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities, the Associated Press reported. Renee Nicole Macklin Good, 37, was shot in the head in a snowy residential neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis after 9:30 a.m. The shooting was recorded on video by bystanders, and it drew immediate conflicting accounts from federal and local officials.

Federal officials described the shooting as an act of self-defense. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called that account false after viewing the footage himself.

Disputed accounts of the shooting

Bystander video from multiple vantage points, as described by the AP, showed an ICE officer approaching a Honda Pilot stopped across the middle of a residential street, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the door handle. The vehicle began to pull forward. A second ICE officer, who had been standing in front of the vehicle, then pulled his weapon and fired at least two shots into the vehicle at close range. After the shots, the SUV accelerated into two parked cars before coming to a stop.

The AP reported it was not clear from the videos whether the vehicle made contact with the officer before shots were fired. The footage also does not show what prior interactions, if any, Macklin Good had with ICE officers before the recording began.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem held a news conference Wednesday evening in Minneapolis. “Our officer followed his training, did exactly what he’s been taught to do in that situation,” Noem said. She described the incident as “an act of domestic terrorism” carried out against ICE officers, saying Macklin Good “attempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot, to protect himself and the people around him.” Noem described Macklin Good as part of a “mob of agitators” and said the officer who fired was a veteran who had previously been rammed and dragged by a motorist during a separate incident in June. “Any loss of life is a tragedy, and I think all of us can agree that in this situation, it was preventable,” Noem said. She announced the FBI would investigate.

Frey rejected the federal account in forceful terms. “They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video myself, I wanna tell everybody directly, that is bullshit,” the mayor said. He called Noem’s account “garbage” and demanded that federal immigration agents leave the Twin Cities.

“What they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust,” Frey said. “They’re ripping families apart. They’re sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara briefly described the shooting to reporters but, unlike federal officials, gave no indication that the driver had been attempting to harm anyone.

The Twin Cities enforcement operation

The Department of Homeland Security announced the Twin Cities enforcement operation on Tuesday. Frey said more than 2,000 federal officers had been deployed to Minneapolis and St. Paul. Noem said the operation was at least partly tied to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents and that federal authorities had already made “hundreds and hundreds” of arrests by Wednesday.

The AP described Macklin Good’s death as at least the fifth linked to federal immigration enforcement operations under the Trump administration.

The shooting drew a large crowd of protesters to the scene. By evening, hundreds had gathered for a vigil and called on the public to resist immigration enforcement agents. For nearly a year before the operation, immigrant rights advocates and neighborhood activists across the Twin Cities had been preparing to respond to an enforcement surge, establishing online alert networks, scanning license plates for possible federal vehicles, and distributing whistles to signal enforcement presence in neighborhoods.

Minneapolis Public Schools canceled school, sports and activities for Thursday and Friday, saying the decision was “due to safety concerns related to today’s incidents around the city.”

State and congressional responses

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called the killing “predictable” and “avoidable” and said he was prepared to deploy the National Guard if necessary. He asked protesters to keep demonstrations peaceful. “They want a show. We can’t give it to them. We cannot,” Walz said.

Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said state authorities would investigate alongside federal authorities. “Keep in mind that this is an investigation that is also in its infancy. So any speculation about what has happened would be just that,” Jacobson told reporters.

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, whose district includes the site of the shooting, called Macklin Good’s death “state violence,” not law enforcement.

President Donald Trump defended ICE’s conduct in a social media post and made similar characterizations of Macklin Good to those offered by Noem.

About Renee Nicole Macklin Good

Macklin Good had a 6-year-old child, her mother told the Minnesota Star Tribune. On social media, she described herself as “a poet and writer and wife and mom” who was from Colorado. A woman who identified herself at the scene as Macklin Good’s spouse said the couple had recently arrived in Minnesota and had a child together.