Renee Good’s family has hired the Chicago-based law firm Romanucci & Blandin — which represented George Floyd’s family and helped secure a $27 million settlement — to investigate Good’s death during a Minneapolis immigration enforcement operation, the firm announced Wednesday. Good, 37, a mother of three, was shot and killed by a federal deportation officer on Jan. 7. The firm said it intends to share findings “on a rolling basis” because it believes the community is not receiving adequate information elsewhere.
The family’s legal action comes as the U.S. Justice Department declined to open a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting, roughly half a dozen federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned that week, and an FBI probe remains ongoing.
The family accused federal immigration officers of killing Good as she attempted to follow agents’ instructions, according to the firm. Loved ones said in a statement they want Good remembered as “an agent of peace” and urged the public not to use her death as a political flashpoint.
What the family wants to know
Romanucci & Blandin said it is representing Becca Good — Renee Good’s partner — as well as Renee’s parents and siblings. The firm said it wants answers on three points: what federal officers were doing in the neighborhood where Good was killed on Jan. 7; the officers’ conduct during the encounter; and whether there were delays in providing medical aid after the shooting.
“What happened to Renee is wrong,” the firm said.
Roughly half a dozen federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned that week, and several supervisors in the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division in Washington also gave notice of their departures, according to people familiar with the matter.
How the confrontation unfolded
Becca Good and other relatives said the couple had just dropped off their 6-year-old child at school on the morning of Jan. 7 before stopping to observe law enforcement activity in their neighborhood. Video shows a red SUV driven by Renee Good sitting perpendicular to the road and blocking part of it, with Good pressing the horn repeatedly.
A truck carrying immigration officers then arrived. Two officers got out, and one ordered Good to open her door. She reversed briefly, then turned the steering wheel toward the passenger side as the officer repeated the command. Becca Good, standing on the passenger side and trying to open the door, shouted, “drive, baby, drive.” The SUV moved forward, and the officer who had positioned himself in front of the vehicle opened fire.
The Trump administration has defended the officer’s actions, saying he fired in self-defense while standing in front of Good’s vehicle as it began to move forward. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have criticized that explanation based on videos of the confrontation.
The ICE agent who fired was Jonathan Ross, an Iraq War veteran who has served as a deportation officer since 2015, according to the Associated Press.
Partner and family speak
Becca Good released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio describing why the couple had stopped that morning: “We had whistles. They had guns.”
The law firm said Renee and Becca were “not legally married but were committed partners dedicated to their family.”