Nationwide Protests Erupt After Killing of Renee Good
National protests are emerging around the murder of Renee Good, the 37-year-old Minneapolis resident who was fatally shot by United States Immigration and Customs Agent Jonathan Ross.
Writers Michael Biesecker, Jim Mustian, and Giovanna Dell’Orto, in their 2026 article for the Associated Press, write, “State and local officials and protesters have rejected the Trump administration’s characterization of the shooting, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saying video recordings show the self-defense argument is ‘garbage’… Video taken by bystanders posted to social media shows an officer approaching her car, demanding she open the door and grabbing the handle. When she begins to pull forward, a different ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots into the vehicle at close range.”
A Traffic Stop Turns Deadly
On Wednesday, January 7th, Good was driving when she was stopped and questioned by Ross. After the encounter evolved into a contentious dispute, Ross shot Good in the head, firing three shots.
The Trump Administration’s response to the incident is beyond an example of an occupational hazard. The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem referring to Good as a “domestic terrorist” is blatant political misogyny. The victim tried to “weaponize her vehicle” to run over an officer near an ICE vehicle stuck on a snow-lined street before he opened fire, Noem claimed in a statement to the press
Immigration has been an ongoing developing story arc in the current chapter of American history. With six months away from the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, discourse surrounding human rights and authoritarian overuse of force will continue to permeate the psyche of the American people.
Good’s murder is just another casualty in the broken system that is American democracy — a system rooted in unethical policing practices that have since evolved.
What This Moment Says About Public Safety
What does it mean when a political regime becomes so big, it no longer recognizes the need to protect its people? Renee Good was a resident of Minneapolis who, like many Americans, was merely minding her own business and was not seen as worthy of protection by individuals whose work is supposed to be based in “national security and public safety.”
A nation isn’t secure if its people don’t feel safe.
