US immigration agent fatally shoots woman in Minneapolis, mayor disputes government claim of self-defense

By Tim Evans and Renee Hickman

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan 7 (Reuters) – A U.S. immigration agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman in her car in Minneapolis on Wednesday during an immigration enforcement surge, according to local and federal officials, the latest violence in President Donald Trump’s nationwide crackdown on migrants.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey adamantly rejected the Trump administration’s assertion that the agent fired in self-defense, saying video of the shooting directly contradicted what he called the government’s “garbage narrative.”

“They’re already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense,” a visibly angry Frey said at a press conference. “Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly – that is bullshit.”

Frey blamed federal immigration agents for sowing chaos in the city, telling ICE: “Get the fuck out of Minneapolis.” But he also urged residents to remain calm, as Democratic leaders in Minnesota, Washington and elsewhere called the ICE operation an unnecessary provocation that resulted in tragedy.

The Minnesota City Council identified the dead woman as Renee Nicole Good and said she was “out caring for her neighbors this morning and her life was taken today at the hands of the federal government.” The council statement also demanded that ICE leave the city immediately.

As night fell, a crowd that appeared thousands strong gathered at the site of the shooting in a residential area of the city’s Central neighborhood, aerial TV images showed. Candles placed at the site lighted up the winter night. Earlier, some protesters were met by heavily armed federal agents wearing gas masks who fired chemical irritants.

Opponents of Trump called for protests in several American cities, raising the risk that the killing could become a national flashpoint over his deployment of federal officers to Democratic-led cities and states.

Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told a press conference that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were responding to a vehicle stuck in the snow when they were harassed by a “mob of agitators.”

One of the protesters, later identified as Good, followed agents all day, Noem said. Good blocked their vehicle and refused orders to move out of the way, she said.

“She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle, and she attempted to run a law enforcement officer over,” Noem told a news conference, saying the car struck the officer.

She characterized that as domestic terrorism and said the act was under investigation by the FBI. State officials said they would launch their own investigation.

Videos of the shooting posted on social media and verified by Reuters raised doubts about the government’s account. One widely shared video showed a maroon Honda SUV partially blocking the road. As the clip begins, the driver inches forward before stopping to let another car pass.

The driver, with the window down, then appears to gesture to an approaching pickup truck to go ahead as well. Instead, the truck stops, and two officers exit and approach the car on foot.

As one of the officers orders the driver out of the SUV and grabs at the door handle, the vehicle reverses briefly, and a third agent moves to the front of the car from the passenger side.

The driver then advances, steering to the right in what appears to be an effort to drive away from the officers. The agent in front of the car pulls his weapon, steps back and fires as the moving car’s left front bumper comes close to his legs.

He fires three shots, with at least one shot after the car’s front bumper had passed him. It was not clear from the video whether the car made contact with the officer, who stayed on his feet throughout the encounter.

After the shots, the car accelerates and crashes into parked cars and a utility pole.

Noem said the officer was experienced and “followed his training.” He was treated by a doctor at a hospital and released.

VICTIM WAS ‘EXTREMELY COMPASSIONATE’

Good’s mother told the Minnesota Star Tribune that her daughter was “extremely compassionate,” and she said Good was not the type of person to confront ICE agents.

“She’s taken care of people all her life,” her mother, Donna Ganger, told the newspaper. “She was loving, forgiving and affectionate.”

The police chief said Good, who was married, was not a target of immigration operations. A witness whose home is nearby told CNN that Good lived in the neighborhood.

The Department of Homeland Security has said it is conducting the “largest DHS operation ever” in Minnesota with 2,000 officers deployed to arrest “fraudsters, murderers, rapists, and gang members.” The surge follows allegations of wide-scale welfare fraud involving Somali immigrants, whom Trump has called “garbage.” Noem said authorities had arrested 1,500 people in recent weeks.

WALZ, TRUMP AT ODDS

Democratic Governor Tim Walz, who ran for U.S. vice president in the 2024 election won by Trump, also rejected the federal government’s account and placed the blame for the shooting on the Trump administration. He told a press conference that he had put the National Guard on alert for possible deployment.

“What we are seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict,” Walz said. “…Today that recklessness cost someone their life.”

In a social media post, Trump said the video showed the woman “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.”

The competing narratives highlighted U.S. political polarization, in which Trump’s supporters enthusiastically endorse his version of events while opponents contend his assertions are often provably false.

WITNESSES DESCRIBE SHOOTING

Venus de Mars, a 65-year-old who lives near the site of the shooting, described seeing paramedics perform CPR on a woman collapsed next to a snowbank near the crashed car.

“There’s been lots of ICE activity but nothing like this,” de Mars said. “I’m so angry. I’m so angry, and I feel helpless.”

The fraud allegations date to 2020 against some nonprofit groups in the Somali community that administer childcare and other social services programs. 

At least 56 people have pleaded guilty since federal prosecutors started to bring charges in 2022 under Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. Walz announced this week he would not seek a third term as governor, saying he did not have time both to address the fraud scandal and to campaign.

(Reporting by Tim Evans in Minneapolis and Renee Hickman in Chicago; Additional reporting by Ted Hesson, Kanishka Singh, Brad Brooks, Heather Schlitz, Jonathan Allen and Ryan Jones; Writing by Ted Hesson, Joseph Ax and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Emily Schmall, Scott Malone, Paul Thomasch, Alistair Bell and Cynthia Osterman)