Federal Agent Kills Minneapolis Woman During Immigration Raid

ICE claimed thirty-two lives in 2025, the agency's highest death toll in over twenty years. Seven days into 2026, another civilian is dead.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot a 37-year-old woman in the head Wednesday morning in south Minneapolis. She died hours later at a local hospital. The woman has been identified by family as Renee Nicole Good.

Federal officials claim self-defense. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara says otherwise. That discrepancy is difficult to accept. According to O'Hara, the woman was sitting in her car, blocking a residential roadway. A federal officer approached on foot. The vehicle began reversing. At least two shots were fired. The car crashed into parked vehicles along the curb.

Bystander footage shows two officers approach a car stopped across an icy road. One reaches into the driver's side as the vehicle starts moving backward. A third officer, weapon drawn, crosses in front of the reversing car. He appears to stumble but doesn't fall. He opens fire. The vehicle accelerates forward and crashes.

"There was nothing to indicate that this woman was the target of any law enforcement investigation," O'Hara said during Wednesday's press conference.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called it "an act of domestic terrorism" against federal agents. She claimed the motorist tried to run over ICE officers. President Trump posted that the driver "viciously ran over the ICE Officer," who he said was hospitalized. DHS later stated the injured officers would make full recoveries.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey watched the footage. His assessment differs substantially from federal officials.

"They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense," Frey said. "I wanna tell everybody directly, that is bullshit."

A reporter pressed whether the woman used her vehicle as a weapon. Frey said no. He accused the agent of "recklessly using power" and demanded ICE leave the city. "We do not want you here," he concluded.

The legal framework for this shooting depends on Tennessee v. Garner, the 1985 Supreme Court ruling that restricts when officers can use deadly force against fleeing suspects. Lethal action requires probable cause that the suspect poses significant threat of death or serious injury. The 2022 Department of Justice use of force policy explicitly prohibits firing at moving vehicles unless deadly force comes from something other than the vehicle itself, or the vehicle operation threatens death with no reasonable alternative defense.

Moving out of the path qualifies as reasonable alternative defense.

The video contradicts federal claims in multiple ways. The officer who fired positioned himself directly in front of a reversing vehicle. He stumbled backward but maintained his footing. He discharged his weapon at a car that was moving away from other agents, not toward them. The vehicle only accelerated forward after shots were fired.

Good was blocking a snowy roadway when agents approached. She wasn't evading arrest. She wasn't suspected of any crime. She was in the wrong place during the largest immigration enforcement operation in American history.

Governor Tim Walz promised a full investigation. He addressed residents directly, acknowledging their anger while requesting peaceful demonstrations. "They want a show," he said about the Trump administration. "We can't give it to them."

The shooting occurred during what ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons described as the "largest immigration operation ever." More than 2,000 federal agents deployed to Minneapolis this week. The operation follows fraud investigations targeting Somali childcare providers, a community Trump has singled out repeatedly in anti-immigrant statements.

Federal agents came to Minneapolis hunting immigrants. They killed a woman who wasn't one.

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Copyright © 2026 Maria Santos Salinas for FRONTeras.