An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
The Department of Homeland Security says the agent acted in self-defense. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz rejected DHS’s claims.
What DHS said about Minneapolis shooting
“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots. He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers. The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased.” DHS said in a post on X. “This is the direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers by sanctuary politicians who fuel and encourage rampant assaults on our law enforcement who are facing 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats.”
Social media is now filled with videos from different angles (note graphic violence language) of the altercation, with people debating whether it was actually an act of self-defense.
The video, which can be viewed here (note graphic violence and language) depicts a maroon Honda in the middle of a road being surrounded by ICE agents, with one trying to open the driver’s door. As the car appears to drive away, a different officer standing in front of the vehicle opens fire. The car appears to make contact with the ICE agent, but he was not fully knocked down. After the woman was shot, her car then rams into vehicles in front of it before coming to a stop.
In the videos (note graphic violence and language) shared online, bystanders can be heard shouting expletives and appear shocked by what they had witnessed.
Minneapolis Chief of Police Brian O’Hara said the woman was shot in the head and was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center, where she was declared dead, per Fox9 Minneapolis.
The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office posted online that it was not involved in the incident but that officers were dispatched to the area.
Mayor, governor respond to Minneapolis shooting
Frey said the presence of ICE agents in his city “is causing chaos” and demanded that they remove themselves. In a press conference following the incident, Frey said his message to ICE is “Get the (expletive) out of Minneapolis.”
He continued, “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.”
Walz posted on X saying he saw the video and called DHS’s response a “propaganda machine” and that “the state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”
An investigation into the incident is underway.
President Trump responds to shooting, protests intensify
President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social in ardent support of the DHS’s take that the ICE agent acted in self-defense and that the woman killed had “willfully” run over the officer:
“I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and 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. Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital. The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE. We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!”
Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee and former chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, in the X account, The Democrats, said in a post that the Trump administration is not being honest about the incident and the video is proof of that.
“A woman in Minnesota was shot and killed by ICE today,” he said. “We all saw the video, and the Trump administration is lying about it. The federal government under Donald Trump’s command is not protecting the peace. Trump has provoked chaos and violence in our towns and cities as part of his sick political theater. ICE has to leave Minnesota now.”
Protests have since broken out in Minneapolis with videos circulating online showing physical altercations between DHS agents and protesters, the burning of the American flag and police vehicles driving away as objects are thrown at them.
One video shows demonstrators banging on the doors of the Diana E. Murphy Federal Courthouse in Minneapolis, trying to force themselves in.
Woman who was killed is identified, Secretary Noem holds press conference
The Minnesota Star Tribune and other news agencies have identified the woman who was killed Wednesday as Renee Nicole Good.
Donna Ganger told the Minnesota Star Tribune that her daughter, age 37, lived in the Twin Cities. Several Minneapolis Council members confirmed she lived there.
In a press conference on Wednesday evening, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem began by acknowledging the tragedy of Good’s death, “Any loss of life is a tragedy, and I think all of us can agree that in this situation, it was preventable.”
Noem said that Good had been “stalking and impeding” the ICE officer’s work throughout the day, when they finally approached her.
“She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle, and she attempted to run a law enforcement officer over with it. This appears as an attempt to kill or to cause bodily harm to agents, an act of domestic terrorism,” she said, adding that the officer who fired the shots did so to “save his own life and that of his colleagues,” was treated at a hospital, and is now with family.
“In fact, the very same officer who was attacked today had previously been dragged by an anti-ICE rioter who had rammed him with a car and drug him back in June,” she said. “I encourage the American people at this point in time to pray for him, but also to pray for the deceased family and her loved ones.”
Noem also said she had spoken to both Trump and Walz on the matter and detailed what occurred during Wednesday’s incident. She criticized both Walz and Frey for the handling of Wednesday’s tragedy and blamed them for the riots that occurred in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.
While the FBI continues to investigate the situation, Noem said Wednesday’s incident would not impede their work in Minnesota.
“Since we have been here, in recent weeks, we have arrested over 1,500 criminals off of the streets,” she said. “Our law enforcement has arrested murderers, known and suspected terrorists, child pedophiles and other brutal criminals that were protected here in this city.”