Who is Renee Nicole Goode, the woman killed by ICE in Minneapolis?
ICE shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. Who is this self-proclaimed “poet and mother from Colorado”?
Faith leaders addressed a crowd gathered in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday morning, January 8, as one of many demonstrations across the state and nation following the killing of Renee Nicole Good by a Minneapolis immigration officer.
The demonstration took place outside the federal building at 300 N. Los Angeles St., which serves the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office.
Good, 37, was shot and killed by ICE agents on Wednesday, January 7, in a residential area south of downtown Minneapolis.
Father Thomas Carey said: “We are all responsible for witnessing the kind of violence that we see everywhere on the part of the government.”
Carey said she is affiliated with Sacred Resistance in Los Angeles. He was one of the speakers at the L.A. demonstration, strumming a guitar and singing to a crowd of a few dozen people about ICE and people being attacked on the streets.
Carey said people in a democracy have a duty to make their voices heard and to protest, a right they must exercise or lose.
“When our government kills someone, it’s time for us to take to the streets,” Carey said.
Los Angeles protester claims Kristi Noem lied, calls for ‘thorough investigation’
President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described the shooting as an act of self-defense. Nomu said Good tried to run the officer over with his car. Video of the shooting shared online shows law enforcement approaching Good’s SUV.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey denied claims of self-defense, saying he had seen the video. Washington state Rep. Pramila Jayapal said on X that the video proves Trump and Noem were lying about what happened. An analysis of the video footage by The New York Times concluded that “the vehicle appeared to be turning away when federal agents opened fire.”
Alison Brett, 62, of La Crescenta, spoke about the footage of Goode’s shooting and said it was clear the vehicle did not intend to hit anyone and that the immigration officer who shot her had left.
“Kristi Noem stood in front of the camera and lied to the American people like she always does,” Brett said.
Brett wants a “thorough investigation” into the shooting of Goode, “without further drag and interference from Republicans.” She wants justice for good.
“It’s really exhausting to feel like you’re being emotionally abused every day by your own government,” Brett said when asked how he felt about the difference between what the video footage captured and what he heard from officials.
“The gaslighting, lies, and insults to my intelligence and moral integrity infuriate me,” she said.
Protesters showed up with signs, one of which read “domestic terrorist” along with a photo of Donald Trump and Kristi Noem. Towards the end of the demonstration, people were invited to lay flowers on the ground in front of several people holding posters of Goode’s face.
Residents of Southern California have experienced federal immigration crackdowns under the Trump administration throughout the past year, particularly when immigration raids sparked protests in Los Angeles last June. This prompted President Trump to institute federalism, deploy the California National Guard to the city, and spark a month-long legal battle between California leaders and the president.
Pastor Francisco García, who heads the Holy Resistance movement, participated in the January 8 demonstration. Garcia said ICE and the Department of Homeland Security are not acting in the public’s interest and must be held accountable.
He described his participation on January 8 as part of a community of organizations that have been committed to standing in solidarity with and alongside our immigrant neighbors who are “at risk under the very aggressive tactics of this administration that we have seen here over the last six months.”
“What’s happening in Minneapolis is clearly something we’ve been through and our community continues to go through,” Garcia said. “And when you look at what happened yesterday, it’s just the most extreme example of how wrong this path is, right? How we’ve lost our way as a nation, in our policies, in our tactics.”
“And that is clearly visible in the tactics used by ICE and immigration that led to the murder of Renee Nicole Good,” the pastor said.
USA TODAY contributed to this article.
Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. please contact her pbarraza@usatodayco.com.
