What we know about the woman killed in the Minneapolis ICE shooting

By Amanda Musa, CNN
(CNN) — The woman shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis is being remembered as a loving mother and partner whose family is shocked by the circumstances surrounding her death.
Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old US citizen, was killed when an ICE agent shot into her vehicle during an encounter Wednesday morning.
The shooting took place on a snow-lined street where an ICE vehicle had gotten stuck, according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. A “mob of agitators that were harassing them,” blocked them in and attempted to impede their efforts, Noem said.
One of those vehicles was being driven by the victim, who proceeded to “weaponize her vehicle” in an attempt to run over an officer before he opened fire, Noem said.
While Noem defended the agent’s actions, state and local officials strongly disputed claims that the shooting – which was caught on video – was done in self-defense.
The shooting has spiked already-heightened tensions in Minneapolis, where around 2,000 federal agents were deployed this week as part of the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown. The deployment came on the heels of accusations of welfare fraud in the Somali immigrant community raised by a conservative content creator on YouTube.
Here’s what we know about the woman killed in the ICE shooting:
Who was Renee Nicole Good?
Good lived in the Twin Cities with her partner, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported citing her mother, Donna Ganger.
“Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” Ganger told the newspaper. “She was extremely compassionate.”
“She’s taken care of people all her life,” Ganger added. “She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”
Good was a mother to a 6-year-old child whose father died in 2023, according to the Star Tribune. “There’s nobody else in his life,” the child’s grandfather told the newspaper.
Good spent most of her life in Colorado and briefly moved to Kansas to live with her parents for a time after her husband – a military veteran – died, her father Tim Ganger told The Washington Post.
“She had a good life, but a hard life,” Tim Ganger told the Post. “She was a wonderful person.”
Speaking to CNN affiliate KMGH, Good’s uncle Robert Ganger, said news of his niece’s passing was especially difficult for the family since Good’s older sister was celebrating her birthday on Wednesday.
CNN has reached out to Good’s family.
A former neighbor in Kansas told CNN affiliates KCTV and KMBC Good and her family “were lovely.”
She is “a neighbor who, you know, is not a terrorist. Not an extremist,” Joan Rose told KMBC. “That was just a mom who loved her kids, loved her spouse.”
Good attended Old Dominion University in Virginia, graduating in 2020 with an English degree, the school said in a statement.
“May Renee’s life be a reminder of what unites us: freedom, love, and peace. My hope is for compassion, healing, and reflection at a time that is becoming one of the darkest and most uncertain periods in our nation’s history,” Old Dominion President Brian O. Hemphill said in the statement.
Shooting scene becomes site of vigil
Hours after the shooting, throngs of neighbors gathered at a vigil near the scene to remember Good and express their outrage at what happened.
The group surrounded a makeshift shrine of flowers and candles and, at one point, chanted Good’s name.
“Say it once. Say it twice. We will not put up with ICE,” they also chanted. Some carried signs with messages such as “Killer ICE off our streets.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey urged residents to remain calm in the wake of “chaos” in the city.
“This is a moment where all of us in Minneapolis and beyond, we can rise to the occasion,” Frey said. “We can show them who we are. We can show them the kind of courage, bravery, love and compassion that makes Minneapolis and that makes America.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz offered condolences to Good’s family and vowed his administration “is going to stop at nothing to seek accountability and justice.”
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CNN’s Taylor Galgano, Ray Sanchez and Amanda Jackson contributed to this report.