Minneapolis rocked by ICE officer shooting and killing of a 37-year-old woman in front of a family member during immigration crackdown

On Wednesday, during the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown on a major American city, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis driver. Federal officials claimed the shooting was an act of self-defense, while the mayor described it as reckless and unnecessary.

The 37-year-old woman was in a snowy residential neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, just a few blocks from some of the oldest immigrant markets and about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from where [unclear what is meant here] by police in 2020.

Witnesses recorded the killing after 9:30 a.m. on video, and the shooting quickly attracted a large crowd of angry protesters. By evening, hundreds had gathered for a vigil to mourn her death and urge the public to resist immigration enforcers.

The woman, Renee Nicole Macklin Good, had a 6-year-old child, her mother told the Minnesota Star Tribune. Macklin Good described herself on social media as a “poet and writer and wife and mom” who was from Colorado.

Videos taken by bystanders from different vantage points and posted on social media show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Pilot starts to pull forward, and a different ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle draws his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots into the vehicle at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves towards him.

It’s not clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there’s no indication whether the woman had interactions with ICE officers before the videos began. After the shooting, the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb nearby before crashing to a stop.

In another video taken at the scene, a woman, who said Macklin Good was her spouse, is seen crying near the vehicle. The woman, who wasn’t identified, said the couple had only recently arrived in Minnesota and that they had a child.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described the incident as an “act of domestic terrorism” committed against ICE officers by a woman who “tried to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle. One of our officers acted quickly and defensively, shooting to protect himself and the people around him.”

In a social media post, President Donald Trump made similar accusations against the woman and defended ICE’s work.

Local officials dispute the narrative

Noem claimed the woman was part of a “mob of agitators” and said the officer followed his training. She said the veteran officer who fired his gun had been rammed and dragged by an anti-ICE motorist in June.

“Any loss of life is a tragedy, and I think we can all agree that in this situation, it was preventable,” Noem said, adding that the FBI would investigate.

But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey dismissed Noem’s version of events as “garbage” and criticized the federal deployment of over 2,000 officers to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul as part of the immigration crackdown.

“What they’re doing isn’t to provide safety in America. They’re causing chaos and distrust,” Frey said, calling for the immigration agents to leave. “They’re tearing families apart. They’re sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people.”

“They’re already trying to spin this as an act of self-defense. Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everyone directly, that’s bullshit,” the mayor said.

Shooting is fifth linked to crackdowns

The shooting marked a significant escalation of the latest in a [unclear what is meant here] in major cities under the Trump administration. The death of the woman in Minneapolis was [unclear what is meant here] linked to immigration crackdowns.

The Twin Cities have been on edge since DHS announced Tuesday that it had launched the operation, which is at least partly related to [unclear what is meant here] involving Somali residents. [unclear who said this] said they had already made “hundreds and hundreds” of arrests.

A large group of protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting, where they expressed their anger at the local and federal officers present, including [unclear who this is], a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago, and elsewhere.

“She was driving away and they killed her,” said Lynette Reini-Grandell, a local resident who was among those who filmed the shooting.

In a scene reminiscent of the [unclear what is meant here] and [unclear what is meant here] crackdowns, bystanders heckled the officers, chanting “ICE out of Minnesota” and blowing whistles that have become common during the operations.

Governor calls for calm

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he’s ready to deploy the National Guard if necessary. He described the killing as “predictable” and “avoidable.” He also said, like many, he was outraged by the shooting, but he urged people to keep protests peaceful.

“They want a show. We can’t give it to them. We can’t,” the governor said.

Minneapolis Public Schools canceled school, sports, and activities for Thursday and Friday, stating in a statement that the decision was “due to safety concerns related to today’s incidents around the city.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara briefly described the shooting to reporters but, unlike federal officials, didn’t indicate that the driver was trying to harm anyone.

There were calls on social media to prosecute the officer who shot the driver. Commissioner Bob Jacobson of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said state authorities would investigate the shooting with federal authorities.

“Keep in mind that this is an investigation that’s still in its early stages. So any speculation about what happened would just be that,” Jacobson told reporters.

The shooting occurred in the district of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who called it “state violence,” not law enforcement.

For nearly a year, migrant rights advocates and neighborhood activists across the Twin Cities have been preparing to mobilize in case of an immigration enforcement surge. From houses of worship to mobile home parks, they’ve set up very active online networks, scanned license plates for possible federal vehicles, and bought whistles and other noisemaking devices to alert neighborhoods of any enforcement presence.

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Dell’Orto reported from St. Paul, Minnesota. Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Ed White in Detroit, Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas, Mark Vancleave in Las Vegas, Michael Biesecker In Washington and Jim Mustian in New York contributed.