Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on the morning of January 7, 2026, in a south Minneapolis neighborhood.

Federal officials, including President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, immediately characterized the shooting as an act of self-defense against what they labeled “domestic terrorism.”

“The woman driving the car 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,” Trump wrote on social media shortly after the incident. He added that he found it “hard to believe [the agent] is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital.”

Multiple videos recorded from different angles and eyewitness testimony paint a markedly different picture from the federal government’s narrative.

According to witness accounts and video evidence, Good was sitting in her maroon Honda Pilot SUV, which was positioned sideways in the middle of Portland Avenue between East 33rd and 34th Streets. The incident occurred around 9:30 a.m. after neighbors used whistles to alert the community to ICE’s presence in the area.

Eyewitnesses reported that ICE agents gave Good conflicting commands. “One agent told the driver to drive away from the scene, while another yelled for the driver to get out of the car,” according to video recordings. Emily Heller, a witness who captured video of the incident, told NBC News she saw “six or seven ICE vehicles” and watched as one agent approached Good’s vehicle and ordered her to drive away, while another agent attempted to open her door and commanded her to exit.

Video footage shows two ICE agents approaching Good’s vehicle on foot, with one attempting to open the driver’s side door and reaching into the car. As the agent grabbed the door handle, Good’s vehicle briefly reversed, then moved forward while the steering wheel turned to the right—away from the agent standing in front of the vehicle.​

A third agent, positioned near the front of the SUV, drew his weapon and fired three shots through the windshield as the vehicle moved forward. “As the maroon SUV moves forward, its tires appear to be turning right rather than towards the ICE agent,” reported ABC News Verify after analyzing the footage.​

The agent who fired remained on his feet throughout the encounter, and it remains unclear from video evidence whether the vehicle made any contact with him. The Guardian reported there was “no visible sign in the videos of ICE officers being injured.”​

Good was shot in the head. Her vehicle continued moving for several feet before crashing into parked cars and a light pole.

Aidan Perzana, who witnessed the shooting from his home, told NBC News: “I don’t think that anybody is trying to say they were trying to run an officer over. There was space between the officers at that point for the vehicle to make it through. It seemed like the driver was trying to get away.”​

Lynette Reini-Grandell, who recorded video from outdoors, stated simply: “She was driving away and they killed her.”​

Emily Heller provided a detailed account: “One of the ICE agents stepped in front of her vehicle and reached across the hood and fired his weapon about three or four times and shot her in the face.”

In the critical minutes after the shooting, witnesses report that ICE agents prevented medical assistance from reaching Good, contributing to a delay of approximately 15 minutes before emergency medical services could treat her.​

Emily Heller told NBC News that after the shooting, ICE agents would not allow anyone near Good’s vehicle and told bystanders that emergency services were on the way. In video Heller shared, a bystander who identified himself as a physician asked if he could check Good’s pulse but was denied access. An ICE officer can be heard in the video saying, “We have our own medics.”​

However, no medical aid was provided to Good for approximately 15 minutes. When EMS finally arrived, their ambulances could not access the scene because ICE vehicles were blocking the street, forcing first responders to approach on foot.​

“They were on foot when they got through, and they carried her body out, just like by her limbs, they didn’t even have a stretcher,” Heller told NBC News. “She was carried out like a sack of potatoes.”

Multiple witnesses reported seeing the ICE agent who shot Good walk away from the scene and get into an ICE vehicle.

Minneapolis firefighters eventually removed Good from the vehicle and began lifesaving measures, including CPR, before she was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead from gunshot wounds to the head.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey forcefully disputed the Trump administration’s characterization of events during an afternoon press conference.

“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly, that is bullshit,” Frey said. “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.”​

The mayor directed an explicit message at federal immigration authorities: “To ICE: Get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, who unlike federal officials gave no indication the driver was trying to harm anyone, stated: “This woman was in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway on Portland Avenue. At some point a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot and the vehicle began to drive off. At least two shots were fired. The vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.”​

O’Hara added that “there is nothing to indicate that this woman was the target of any law enforcement investigation or activity.”

During a nearly two-hour interview with The New York Times on Wednesday evening, President Trump’s certainty about the shooting appeared to falter after watching a slow-motion surveillance video of the incident in the Oval Office.​

When Times reporters challenged Trump’s assertion that Good had attempted to run over the agent, he had an aide bring a laptop to the Resolute Desk to show what he claimed would be proof of Good’s misconduct. After viewing the slow-motion footage with the reporters, Trump’s tone shifted.​

“It’s a terrible scene,” Trump remarked as the video concluded. “I think it’s horrible to watch. No, I hate to see it.”​

When asked whether the shooting was appropriate, Trump initially deflected, attempting to blame the situation on immigration policy under his predecessor. But the video evidence appeared to complicate his initial assessment that Good had “viciously” run over the officer.

Good was a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, poet, writer, and mother of three who had recently moved to Minneapolis with her partner and six-year-old son. According to her ex-husband, Good had just dropped off her six-year-old son at school Wednesday morning and was driving home with her current partner when they encountered ICE agents on a snowy street in south Minneapolis.​

Good’s mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that her daughter was “one of the kindest people I’ve ever known.” “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,” Ganger said. Ganger emphasized that her daughter was “not part of anything like that at all,” referring to protests challenging ICE agents.

Good’s death marks potentially the ninth shooting by ICE or Border Patrol agents since September 2024, and the fifth fatality linked to immigration crackdowns, according to a report by the New York Times. In several previous cases, federal accounts of the incidents were later contradicted by video evidence.

In September, ICE agents shot and killed Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez near Chicago. Federal officials claimed he had struck and dragged an agent with his car, but a New York Times analysis of video footage raised doubts about critical elements of the government’s narrative.​

In another case, federal prosecutors were forced to dismiss assault charges against a woman named Martinez in Chicago after security camera and bodycam footage emerged showing a Border Patrol agent steering his vehicle into Martinez’s truck, contradicting official claims that she had driven toward officers.

The FBI is leading the federal investigation into the shooting, while state officials have pledged to conduct their own investigation. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office confirmed it has jurisdiction to review the use of force and determine whether criminal charges are warranted.