The wife of a woman shot dead by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers has issued her first public statement, drawing a stark contrast between peaceful protesters and armed agents. Rebecca Good said she and her wife, Renee Nicole Good, 37, had only whistles while the officers confronting them had guns.
A Fatal Encounter on a Snowy Street
The incident occurred on Wednesday, 09 January 2026, just blocks from the couple's home in Minneapolis. According to bystander video, three ICE officers surrounded the Good family's Honda Pilot SUV, which was stopped across the road. Footage shows an officer approaching, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle.
The vehicle then began to pull forward. A different ICE officer standing directly in front of the car drew his weapon and fired at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moved. Renee Good, a mother of three and a US citizen born in Colorado, was killed.
A Legacy of Kindness Versus Claims of Terrorism
In her statement provided to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday, Rebecca Good focused on memorialising her wife, describing her as a Christian who believed in love and compassion. "Renee sparkled. She literally sparkled," she wrote. "Renee was made of sunshine."
The statement was released hours before new video of the ICE shooting emerged, fuelling existing public outrage. While Trump administration officials have characterised Renee Good as a domestic terrorist who attempted to run over an officer, this narrative has been rejected by Minneapolis state and local officials, as well as protesters.
Far from the "worst-of-the-worst" criminals targeted by Trump's immigration crackdown, Renee Good's record was clean save for a single traffic ticket. Her social media profiles described her as a "poet and writer and wife and mom."
Nationwide Outcry and a Family's Future
The killing has sparked protests and demonstrations outside the ICE facility in Minneapolis and across the United States, with growing calls for the involved agent to face criminal charges.
Rebecca Good revealed the couple, who had recently moved to Minneapolis after an extended road trip, were raising Renee's six-year-old son from a previous marriage. "We were raising our son to believe that no matter where you come from or what you look like, all of us deserve compassion and kindness," she wrote.
She is now left to raise their child alone, vowing to teach him that "the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way." The family's tragedy has become a flashpoint in the national debate over immigration enforcement and police use of force.
