Renee Nicole Good did not have to die. But someone was going to, sooner or later.
A nation is outraged that the Minneapolis mother of three was shot and killed at point-blank range by a federal immigration agent. But tragically, no one should be surprised.
The shooting Wednesday is the entirely foreseeable result of more than doubling the number of ICE agents in less than a year, lowering the standards for hiring and training them, and then placing thousands of masked agents in cities, arming them as though they’re at war, insisting their lives are at risk — then absolving them of accountability.
The coverup begins
The FBI has begun shielding evidence. The Department of Justice told the state of Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension it will have no access to investigative materials — anything to help the state decide whether to bring criminal charges. This Washington protects its own.
But Americans don’t need to wait for the FBI to know that the ICE agent kept firing after Good was shot in the head, or that agents took their time walking to her crashed Honda Pilot.
No one needs Pam Bondi’s servile DOJ to know that a physician pleaded with agents to let him help Good. It’s on video.
“I’m a physician,” he shouted. “I don’t care,” the agent hollered back.
No one has to wait for an official timeline to know that emergency crews could not get through parked ICE cars. Not all ICE cars, of course: The shooter drove away before police arrived.
No one has to wait for the FBI’s analysis of videos from three different angles. Video specialists at the New York Times, the Washington Post and investigative website Bellingcat have already done that. Combined, they show the officer opened fire when Good appeared to be driving away.
Blaming the victim
What’s more outrageous than Good’s death is the choreographed chorus of Republicans blaming her for it. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled Good a domestic terrorist.
The victim had just dropped off her 6-year-old at school and had a glove box overflowing with stuffed animals.
Noem also said ICE agents were trying to push their car out of the snow when Good attacked them with her car. No such thing happened. Three agents walked over to her car, surrounded it, and grabbed through the window when she didn’t open the door.
The very next day, DHS agents shot a married couple in a car in Portland, Ore. The passenger was “affiliated” with a gang, DHS said. Parroting the same explanation used in Good’s death, the agency said the driver tried to run them over, so both had to be shot.
Ten people shot in cars
Since September, federal officers have fired on 10 people while in their vehicles, the New York Times found.
A decade ago, law enforcement agencies were already changing policies to bar deadly force involving a car in all but extreme circumstances.
DOJ regulations do not allow shooting to simply stop a car. They allow firing at a vehicle only if it poses an immediate lethal threat. The video analysis does not clearly prove Good posed such a threat.
But Americans have reason to believe that ICE does.
In Chicago, Marimar Martinez was shot five times. Her attorney says body-cam video contradicted the feds’ claim that she drove toward officers. Illinois state Rep. Hoan Huynh said a federal agent drew a gun when he honked his horn. Another agent pointed a gun through the car window at a pregnant woman in Chicago. “He showed great restraint,” DHS said.
The provocateur-in-chief
Restraint is not what President Trump is after.
He ceaselessly supplies lit fuses that could lead to an explosion of violence. He called the Somali community “garbage.” He repeated the conspiracy theory that Gov. Tim Walz played a role in the murder of a state Democratic leader and her husband.
When a MAGA influencer called fraud after child care centers did not open their door to a stranger, Trump suspended grants and loans to small businesses. DHS began flooding Minneapolis streets with 2,000 agents, and now Trump is sending in even more.
In a saner world, Noem would resign or be impeached. A sitting president would not use a state as a political punching bag at the cost of innocent lives.
The Minneapolis protesters must stay peaceful to deny ICE’s masked hooligans further justification for bloodshed. It is hard to choose nonviolence in the face of armed thugs and politicians who celebrate them, but it’s the best way to honor Good, a peaceful woman who deserved a long, peaceful life.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2026/01/09/armed-masked-and-unaccountable-editorial/
