ICE officer shoots woman in Minneapolis, sparks anger, deepens divisions

By Myles Miller and Alicia A Caldwell

 

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman during a confrontation in Minneapolis, sparking an uproar over the presence of ICE agents in the city and heightening political divisions around the Trump administration’s migrant crackdown.  

The Wednesday shooting — caught on video and shared widely on social media — happened during what federal officials described as a targeted operation amid a broader immigration effort. President Donald Trump and his allies cast it as an incident of self-defense, a view that the mayor of Minneapolis called a “garbage narrative.”

 

The deadly incident fueled a national debate over Trump’s efforts to send heavily armed federal agents into US cities in his push for mass deportations, with operations ramping up last year from Chicago to Los Angeles. Within hours, the Minneapolis killing ignited protests as far away as New York City, where an evening demonstration backed by the New York Immigration Coalition was planned for Foley Square. 

 

 

Federal agents began arriving in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area in early December under what ICE called “Operation Metro Surge.” The Trump administration said this week the effort will involve as many as 2,000 federal agents, and it’s already resulted in at least 1,500 arrests.

 

A video obtained by Minnesota Public Radio News and posted on X showed how the shooting unfolded in a residential area of Minneapolis. MPR News wrote on its social media accounts that it got the video from an eyewitness at the scene and it had authenticated its validity. 

 

The footage showed a Honda Pilot blocking part of the road as two federal agents approached. As one of them tried to open the door, the SUV backed up slightly. A third agent then appeared in front of the automobile, and he fired at the driver as it began to turn and move forward. The vehicle briefly continued to move ahead before crashing. 

 

A statement from Minneapolis City Council members and multipe media outlets identified the woman who was killed as Renee Nicole Good, 37.

 

The victim was acting because of the presence of federal agents, said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara. There was no indication she had been a target of law enforcement, he said. 

 

“In any professional law enforcement agency in the country, I think they would tell you it’s obviously very concerning whenever there is a shooting into a vehicle of someone who is not armed,” said O’Hara, although he added that he doesn’t know all the circumstances around the shooting and said that in some cases such action is justified.  

Trump described the video as a “horrible thing to watch.” He accused the woman driving the car of resisting and claimed she “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.” 

 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the officer who shot the woman was “following his training” and took actions to defend himself. She said the shooting was a result of an “act of domestic terrorism.”

 

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey rejected the self-defense claim. “That is not true, it has no truth,” he said. Frey also called for ICE agents to “get the f___ out.”

 

“The presence of federal immigration enforcement agents is causing chaos in our city,” Frey said. “We’re demanding ICE to leave the city immediately. We stand rock solid with our immigrant and refugee communities.” 

The neighborhood where the shooting took place is about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) south of downtown Minneapolis and features a mix of apartment buildings and single-family homes, many of them built about a century ago. A racially mixed area, it’s about a mile from where George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in 2020, helping set off the Black Lives Matter movement. 

 

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, faulted the Trump administration for “sending federal agents onto our streets against the wishes of local law enforcement” and called for an investigation. 

 

“I am deeply concerned that statements made by DHS do not appear to reflect video evidence and on-the-ground accounts,” she said in a statement. “While our immigration enforcement should be focused on apprehending and prosecuting violent criminals to make our communities safer, these ICE actions are doing the opposite and making our state less safe.”

 

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz urged residents to remain calm as state public safety officials gather information about the incident. 

 

The immigration-enforcement surge in Minneapolis has coincided with heightened attention on a fraud investigation into Minnesota’s child-care and social sectors, including pandemic-era cases. Dozens of people have been charged or convicted, many of them of Somali origin, according to the New York Times. 

 

Federal officials have cited the investigation as part of the justification for the enforcement push. Minnesota is home to a significant Somali population, with the vast majority being permanent residents or citizens.

 

Noem, speaking to the media on Wednesday evening, said immigration agents will continue to operate in the city and across the state, saying that the people picked up over the past several weeks have included murderers, terrorists and paedophiles. 

 

“We are still out on the streets doing our work to get dangerous criminals off the streets of Minneapolis,” she said.

 

Walz, a Democrat, announced earlier this week that he will not seek a third term, following criticism from Republicans and the Trump administration over his handling of the fraud investigations.