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Agents shot and killed Renee Nicole Good whilst she was driving in her SUV. Her death marks a chapter in US history marred by inevitable violence.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were carrying out an immigration operation in Minnesota this week, when 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good refused to get out of her car.
The mother of three had only recently moved to the city from Colorado, and was going about her day as usual when officers descended on the area. ICE had, reportedly, amped up their presence in response to ‘violent rioters’, who had been trying to intervene with their operation.
Ms Good was caught in the crossfire. A ‘poet and writer and wife and mom,’ Renee ignored orders to emerge from her SUV when approached by armed agents. In a video now circulating online, one shouted ‘get out of the fucking car’ as Ms Good reversed and attempted to drive away – clearly distressed.
Shots were subsequently fired by an officer who then walked away, leaving a bullet hole in Good’s rear window and blood on the snowy street below.
President Trump was being interviewed by The New York Times when news of Good’s death came through. ‘I want to see nobody get shot. I want to see nobody screaming and trying to run over policemen either,’ Trump said.
Multiple reports – including those of the officer who shot at Good – claim ICE agents were acting in self-defence after the 37-year-old attempted to ram her car into bystanders. But video of the incident does not support these allegations. The FBI is now investigating the incident.
Good’s mother Donna Ganger told the Minnesota Star Tribune that Good’s death was ‘so stupid’, and that ‘she was probably terrified.’
‘Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,’ she said. ‘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.’
Renee’s death was aggressive, unnecessary and heartbreaking. But in leaving behind 3 children, the misconstrued statements around the shooting hang especially heavy – they mark an America framed by acts of seemingly inevitable violence, and a government happy to claim those marks.
Emily Heller, an eyewitness to the shooting, disputed the Trump administration’s account of the incident. ‘I’d prefer not to do this, but I knew after witnessing it that this would be misconstrued into self-defence, which it absolutely is not,’ she told MS Now.
‘This was totally preventable and absolutely unnecessary.’
Heller also added that ‘no life saving measures’ were attempted in the immediate aftermath. ‘You can clearly see her slumped over in her car,’ she said. ‘And this neighbour was yelling ‘I’m a physician, can I take vitals? Can I get a heartbeat? Can I please register CPR’ and they were saying ‘no get back, we don’t care.’
This isn’t the first shooting by ICE agents since the organisation established an overt presence throughout major US cities last year. But the callous nature of Good’s murder has quickly made it one of the most high-profile.
