Fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis: Agent identified : NPR
People gather at a makeshift memorial for Renee Nicole Good, 37, who was shot and killed Wednesday by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
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Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
The killing of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent inspired a vigil Wednesday night and sparked protests in Minneapolis and elsewhere Thursday. Reactions to the shooting reflect outrage over Good’s death and a deep divide in how it is portrayed — as a tragic abuse of power or as an officer acting in self-defense.
NPR identified the ICE agent who fired the weapon as Jonathan Ross by cross-referencing court records with details about the officer released by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a news conference Wednesday. Noem — without naming the officer — said he had a previous confrontation with a protester.
“The same officer who was attacked today had previously been dragged by an anti-ICE rioter who hit him with a car and [dragged] him in June. He was also injured at that time,” she said.
The description of the incident matches a trial against a Mexican national, Roberto Carlos Munoz-Guatemala, who was convicted in December of assaulting a federal agent in Bloomington, Indiana. DHS confirmed to NPR that this was the trial Noem referenced. Ross’ name is mentioned in court documents in the case. According to court records, federal agents trying to arrest Munoz-Guatemala, who had been convicted of sexual abuse, stopped him in his car. Munoz-Guatemala fled after Ross reached inside the vehicle, trapping the officer’s arm and causing injuries to his arm and hand.
Noem said Wednesday’s shooting occurred after protesters in Minneapolis harassed and obstructed ICE agents and that the officer acted to protect himself and his colleagues. She alleged that Good’s actions amounted to “an act of domestic terrorism.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told NPR Morning edition that he disagrees with Noem’s characterization of Good as a domestic terrorist.
“She was a compassionate neighbor who tried to act as a legal observer on behalf of her immigrant neighbors,” Ellison said. “That’s what she was doing at the time of her death. And she was a poet. She was a mother. She was a daughter. And I am deeply saddened by what happened to her and her family.”
Competing narratives quickly emerge
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other local officials have dismissed Noem’s version of events as a political spin. To a press conference WednesdayFrey said of the self-defense explanation: “Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everyone that this is bull****.”
“This was a federal agent recklessly using his power, which resulted in someone’s death,” Frey said, adding that he wants ICE units to leave Minneapolis.
A woman and other protesters confront federal agents Thursday outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, a day after a federal agent fatally shot a woman in her car in south Minneapolis.
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he was angered by the killing, which he linked to President Trump’s policy of sending ICE and other federal agents to cities like Minneapolis.
“What we are seeing are the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict,” Walz said Wednesday. “It’s reality TV that governs and today this recklessness has cost someone’s life.”
Noem said Wednesday that she spoke with Walz about the killing, but added that they disagree on whether it was justified: “We have two very different views on what happened.”
Hours after the shooting, Noem defended the ICE officer who shot Good, saying the woman blocked federal agents with her SUV and disobeyed orders to get out of her vehicle.
“It is clearly established by law that a vehicle driven by a person and used to injure someone is a deadly weapon,” she said, as reported by NPR. “Deadly force is perfectly lawful when a threat is met with a weapon, so I believe this officer used his training in this situation.”
When Noem was asked Thursday if the officer remained on duty in the field, Noem said he went to the hospital for treatment but was later released “and is now spending time with his family.”
Noem also said the federal push in Minneapolis would continue and could even increase.
“We have thousands of officers on site,” she said, “and I am not opposed to sending more if necessary to keep people safe.”
Key details of a controversial shooting
Here’s a brief overview of what we know so far about the events leading up to Good’s death:
When: Officers responded to reports of shots fired shortly after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to a timeline released by the city of Minneapolis.
“Minneapolis firefighters then removed the 37-year-old victim from the vehicle and immediately began life-saving measures until paramedics could respond,” the city’s narrative states. “She was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center, where she later died.”
Or: Good was shot to death in her car on Portland Avenue near East 34th Street, in a residential neighborhood a few blocks north of where police killed George Floyd in May 2020.
ICE agents at the scene were trying to deal with a vehicle stuck in the snow, Noem said Wednesday. As more ICE vehicles arrived, so did protesters, a witness named Caitlin Callenson told member station MPR.
How: Callenson, who recorded video of the incident, told MPR that the officers gave Good conflicting orders: One officer told him to leave while another told him to get out of his SUV, Callenson said.
(Warning: The video available at the following link includes violent actions and profanity.)
Video footage from the scene shows Good’s Honda Pilot SUV sitting sideways on a snowy street, with the driver’s side window rolled down. Two uniformed officers approach the vehicle from the left. As one officer grabs his door handle, a third officer who had walked around the front of the SUV from the opposite side draws his gun. As Good begins to drive away, the officer shoots at his car.
“The preliminary information we have indicates that this woman was in her vehicle and blocking the road,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a news conference Wednesday. “At one point, a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot and the vehicle began to drive away. At least two shots were fired. The vehicle then crashed onto the side of the road.”
What’s next: On Wednesday, O’Hara said the FBI and Minnesota’s state agency, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, would jointly investigate the fatal shooting.
But in a statement released Thursday, the BCA said the U.S. Attorney’s Office had changed course at the federal level and that the FBI would lead the investigation alone, as reported by MPR. The BCA said it “reluctantly withdrew” from the process because it would no longer have access to case materials and evidence.
Ellison, Minnesota’s attorney general, said he believed the FBI should not be involved in the investigation.
“I know ICE and the FBI are different agencies,” Ellison said, “but I think for public trust to be at its highest, there is a legitimate question as to what role the FBI should play.”
NPR’s Ximena Bustillo contributed reporting.
