This column starts with the following disclaimer: I am neither endorsing nor bashing either ICE or Renee Good. This is a presentation of the facts as cleanly and clearly as possible. So…
Let’s cut through the noise and get to the facts. On January 7, 2026, Renee Nicole Good, 37-year-old U.S. citizen, mother of three, poet and writer, ended up dead in south Minneapolis. The official story from the left-leaning media and sanctuary-city politicians is that she was an innocent bystander gunned down by an out-of-control ICE agent. The truth, when you look at the video and the sequence of events without the partisan filter, paints a very different picture: a woman who made every wrong choice in a high-stakes moment and paid the ultimate price as a passive activist/observer.
Wrong Place, Wrong Time
Good wasn’t the target of the ICE operation. She had no outstanding warrants, no criminal record tied to the raid. She simply drove her Honda SUV onto Portland Avenue, a residential street near a school, during an active federal immigration enforcement action. Witnesses—many of them openly hostile to ICE and the Trump administration—claimed she was there to “support neighbours” or act as a “legal observer.” Federal officials say she and others had been harassing and impeding agents for hours. Either way, she chose to insert herself into a tense law-enforcement scene. That was the first wrong decision.
Wrong Cause
The underlying cause wasn’t some random traffic stop gone bad. It was part of the Trump administration’s renewed push for mass deportations in sanctuary jurisdictions. Minneapolis, under Mayor Jacob Frey and Gov. Tim Walz, has long signalled it will not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. When ICE agents arrived, community members—including Good—responded with whistles, shouts, and vehicles positioned to obstruct.
Good’s SUV ended up parked diagonally across the street, blocking the roadway. Federal officials called it deliberate obstruction. Local leaders called it community solidarity. The reality: she turned a lawful operation into a confrontation. That escalation had a cause—and she contributed to it.
Wrong Actions
The bodycam/cellphone footage released by Alpha News shows what happened next. ICE agents approached her vehicle and issued clear, repeated lawful orders: “Get out of the fucking car.” Good did not comply. Instead, the SUV reversed briefly, then moved forward. Her wife Becca’s voice is audible on the audio: “Drive, baby, drive!”
Moments after the shooting, Becca is heard sobbing, “It’s my fault… I made her come down here.” The vehicle’s movement was not a high-speed ram, but the front corner made contact with Agent Jonathan Ross. Slowed-down versions of the footage circulating on social media show the bump clearly—enough force to jolt him.
 Renee Good begins driving |
Ross braces |
SUV contacts upper body |
SUV continues as Ross fires |
|---|
Whether intentional or not, intent – or lack thereof – is not a legal defence when you disobey a federal officer’s command and drive toward him. Under 18 U.S.C. § 111, assaulting or resisting a federal officer is a felony. Attempted vehicular assault might have been on the table if she had survived. She didn’t.
Wrong Reactions
Ross’s reaction was instantaneous: he feared for his life, opened fire, and stopped the perceived threat. Training took over in a split second. He remained upright after the contact, stepped aside as the vehicle passed, and continued to engage. DHS reports he suffered internal bleeding to the torso and was treated and released—no public medical documentation has contradicted that. Contrast that with the liberal outrage machine. Witnesses—many openly anti-ICE and anti-Trump—gave statements painting Good as a martyr.
The entire situation was handled horribly by both parties: Renee Good intentionally impeded traffic and refuse to comply with law enforcement when ordered out of the vehicle. Yes, yes, I get it, she was seen waving vehicles around her – for up to five minutes before ICE confronted her. She wasn’t causing a full stoppage in traffic, but she deliberately impeded it.
For his part, Agent Ross screwed up by walking in front of the SUV, a big no-no in law enforcement when someone is behind the wheel of a running vehicle. He also did not need to shoot, despite his training. It is justifiable, but only by the thinnest of margins, and it is possible he may have been bigoted due to the fact he had once been dragged over 300 meters not that long ago by a perp.
Mainstream media (NYT, Reuters, CNN) ran analyses claiming “no conclusive contact” or “inconclusive,” despite what slowed footage shows plain as day on social media and independent breakdowns. The same outlets that scream “defund the police” when officers defend themselves now cry “murder” when ICE does it. Hypocrisy doesn’t get more blatant.
The Real Villains
Renee Good is dead, and that is tragic in the human sense. But she is not an innocent victim. She chose to obstruct federal officers. She chose to ignore lawful orders. She chose to move her vehicle toward an armed agent after being told to stop. Those choices created the conditions for a lawful use of force. Agent Ross didn’t wake up looking to kill someone—he reacted to a perceived imminent threat in a high-stress environment.
The real villains are the sanctuary-city policies that turn routine enforcement into armed standoffs, the politicians who encourage resistance, and the media that spins non-compliance into martyrdom while burying inconvenient video evidence. In a sane country, Renee Good would still be alive—if she had simply gotten out of the damn car and complied with law enforcement.
Instead, she rolled the dice. She lost. And now her family grieves while the left turns her into a symbol. That’s not justice. That’s politics. And it’s why trust in institutions continues to erode.
0
795
20