Poet Renee Nicole Good, 37, named as Minneapolis woman killed by ICE

A woman shot dead by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota has been named as 37-year-old poet Renee Nicole Good.

The mother-of-three was named by her mother Donna Ganger, who spoke to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on Wednesday afternoon.

The grieving mom denied reports Good would have been ‘part of anything like’ the protests against ICE that were taking place at the location where she was killed.

‘That’s so stupid,’ she said. ‘Renee 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.’

Good was a poet and mother of three children who grew up in Colorado Springs. She was married to a comedian named Timothy Macklin who died in 2023 and now lives in Minneapolis with her partner, whose named has not been shared.

She and Macklin had one child together, a six-year-old son, who is now orphaned. His paternal grandfather told the publication ‘there’s nobody else in his life.  ‘I’ll drive. I’ll fly. To come and get my grandchild.’

Good was shot three times in the face at a protest in Minneapolis on Wednesday after she ignored ICE agents’ demands to get out of her car, reversed it and tried to drive off.

ICE claimed she deliberately drove her burgundy SUV at agents but witnesses dispute that and Mayor Jacob Frey called it ‘bulls**t’.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described Good’s actions on Wednesday as ‘an act of domestic terrorism’ and defended her officer’s actions.  ‘An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot to protect himself and the people around him,’ she said.

She later confirmed ICE operations are still underway in Minnesota in spite of the controversy.  Good is a registered voter but her party affiliation is not listed in public records.

Video shared online captured a woman speaking to a distressed onlooker who claimed to be Good’s wife and said she had a six-year-old child.

‘That’s my wife, I don’t know what to do,’ the onlooker wailed.  The man filming the video asked if the screaming woman was with the victim, and if she had any friends who could help.

‘That’s my wife… [unintelligible]… I have a six-year-old at school… we’re new here, we don’t have anyone,’ she answered.  A frantic onlooker shouted: ‘We need a doctor.’

The man asked if she knew any of her wife’s relatives she could call but she said, ‘I can’t even deal with that now.’  Photos of the woman’s car showed children’s toys inside, including a plush animal and a child’s drawing.

Witnesses claimed Good and her wife were acting as legal observers and filming the protest when she was shot.  But ICE insisted she tried to use the SUV as a deadly weapon.

Footage of the shooting showed the victim blocking the road with her car until ICE agents told her to move away.  She reversed to head back down the road as an agent tried to open its driver-side door handle before she drove off. Three shots then rang out.

Good lost control of the SUV and slammed it into parked cars and a light pole at high speed, prompting screams of shock from horrified onlookers.  Her SUV was seen with a bullet hole through the driver’s side windshield.

Senator Tina Smith had earlier confirmed the victim was a US citizen before Good had been publicly identified. O’Hara said nothing indicated that ‘this woman was the target of a law enforcement investigation.’

Her spouse had arrived at the hospital, where she was pronounced dead, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.  Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed the woman ‘weaponized her vehicle’ and called her actions an ‘act of domestic terrorism’.

McLaughlin said the ICE agent escalated the situation because he was ‘fearing for his own life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement, and the safety of the public.’  ‘He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers,’ she said in a statement, describing the gunshots as ‘defensive shots’.

However, Mayor Jacob Frey claimed DHS was trying ‘to spin this as an act of self-defense.’  ‘This is bulls**t,’ he said at a press conference. ‘I have a message for our community, our city, and ICE – to ICE, get the f**k out of Minneapolis.’

‘We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is safety and you are doing exactly the opposite.’  Frey highlighted how ‘people are being hurt’ and ‘families are being ripped apart’ by immigration officials.

‘Long-term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy, are being terrorized and now somebody is dead. That’s on you – and it’s also on you to leave,’ he said.

The FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are investigating the shooting, O’Hara said, as he disputed DHS’ version of events.  Governor Tim Walz asked his citizens to ‘remain calm’ as he slammed DHS’ narrative as ‘propaganda.’

‘The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice,’ he wrote on Twitter.  ‘Don’t believe this propaganda machine.’

Hundreds of ICE agents are near the corner of 33rd and Portland Avenue this morning as immigration tensions continue to rise in the Midwestern city.  Protesters have been gathering in the area in response to the shooting, and some threw snowballs at ICE officers.

Others took the streets waving flags that read ‘FTP’, standing for ‘F**k The Police.’ Some were also seen burning the American flag, as others held them upside down.

Videos shared online showed ICE and other federal agents douse protesters with tear gas and pepper spray.

During a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Walz warned the Minnesota Natural Guard to prepare for deployment to Minneapolis.  ‘We have soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed if necessary,’ he said.

‘They are teachers in your community, they’re business owners, they’re construction professionals, they are Minnesotans.  ‘Minnesota will not allow our community to be used as a prop in a national political fight. We will not take the bait.’

He also addressed President Trump and United States Secretary of Homeland Security directly.  ‘You’ve done enough. We do not need any further help from the federal government,’ he said.

‘What we’re seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict.’  Walz also told Minnesotans they have a right to protest, but it has to be done peacefully.

‘I say this. I feel your anger. I’m angry. They want to show, we can’t give it to them. We cannot. If you protest and express your first amendment rights, please do so peacefully, as you always do. We can’t give them what they want,’ he said.

Meanwhile, Trump took to Truth Social calling the deceased driver ‘very disorderly’ and someone who ‘viciously ran over the ICE Officer.’

‘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,’ he wrote.

‘Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital.’  The president seemed to blame ‘radical left’ rhetoric for the shooting.

‘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,’ he wrote.

‘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!’