Family and friends say the 37 year old was a mother of three and a writer who had recently moved to Minnesota as federal officials and local leaders clash over what happened on a snowy street.
Renee Nicole Macklin Good had only recently settled into Minneapolis when she was shot dead by a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during an operation in the city on Wednesday, 7 January 2026.
Authorities have opened investigations and competing accounts of the moments before the shooting have rapidly turned the death into a political flashpoint.
The Associated Press reported Good was a US citizen born in Colorado and that she had not faced criminal charges beyond a traffic infringement.
On social media, she described herself as a poet and writer, a wife and a mum and posted about starting life in a new city.
Reports citing a former partner claimed that Good had relocated from Kansas City, Missouri to Minneapolis. Donna Ganger, her mother told the Minnesota Star Tribune that her daughter was an amazing human being and extremely compassionate.
Police and federal officials say the shooting happened during a surge of immigration enforcement activity in the city.
The Minneapolis City Council identified the woman as Renee Nicole Good and demanded ICE leave the city while Mayor Jacob Frey publicly rejected the federal government’s claim that the officer fired in self defence.
The Department of Homeland Security, led by Secretary Kristi Noem, has alleged Good blocked agents who were dealing with a vehicle stuck in snow, refused orders to move and then used her car as a weapon.
Noem said the incident was being investigated as possible domestic terrorism and that an officer was struck and later treated.
Video clips circulating online and assessed by multiple outlets show ICE officers approaching a maroon SUV and one officer grabbing at the door handle as the vehicle reverses and then moves forward.
The footage appeared to show the driver steering away as an officer in front of the car stepped back and fired three shots with at least one shot after the vehicle had passed him and that it was not clear from the video whether contact was made.
Good was taken to hospital and died from a head wound, according to local reporting cited by the Washington Post.
Minneapolis police have said she was not the target of the immigration operation, a detail that has fuelled questions about why the confrontation escalated.
The Washington Post reported the FBI and Minnesota authorities were involved, while Verify noted it was unusual for senior officials to publicly characterise the incident so quickly while calls for an independent inquiry intensified.
Protests gathered at the scene within hours with crowds lighting candles and chanting as heavily armed federal officers deployed chemical irritants.
The killing comes amid the Trump administration’s stepped up immigration enforcement efforts and the dispute between Washington and Democratic led city and state leaders has become part of a broader argument about federal power, policing tactics and public safety.
