On the morning of January 7, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The fallout has rippled across the US, sparking protests in major cities and locally here in Spokane.
In the moments before her death, Good, a white queer woman and mother of three, had been driving an SUV down a residential Minneapolis street, where federal agents were swarming for an immigration operation and neighbors were protesting in response.
Graphic videos of the incident show Good’s vehicle blocking the vehicle of an agent behind her. Two masked men then approached her driver side window, demanding she “get out of the fucking car.” Eyewitnesses reported that the men were also telling her to move her car, giving conflicting instructions to Good. In the videos, Good can be seen pulling away from the agents slowly, turning the wheel to avoid hitting a third agent who was approaching her car.
As she pulled away, the third agent fired three times — once through her windshield and twice from the side of the car through her driver’s side window — and within seconds, the car had rolled up the street and crashed into an electricity pole. Its driver had been fatally shot.
In the wake of Good’s killing, misinformation spread rapidly across the internet, with some commenters posting photos of the wrong woman and others sharing AI-generated images they claimed were pictures of the shooter’s face (the agent who killed Good was masked). The Department of Homeland Security quickly shared their own lies, claiming Good had tried to run officers over in an “act of domestic terrorism,” despite video evidence to the contrary.
And even as people across the nation have been trying to get an accurate picture of what happened, on the ground in Minneapolis, the news developed rapidly: Mayor Jacob Frey told ICE to “get the fuck out of Minneapolis,” Governor Tim Walz has ordered the state National Guard to prepare to deploy, the federal government has barred Minnesota from investigating the shooting, prohibiting access to evidence and Vice President JD Vance told the media Ross will have “absolute immunity,” for shooting Good.
Separate but related, immigration officers also swarmed a high school less than three miles away the same afternoon Good was killed, deploying tear gas, roughing people up and handcuffing school employees.
As tensions build in Minneapolis amidst escalation from the federal government, it’s important to stay informed with accurate news from local outlets who know their communities best. Here are a few sources we recommend (vouched for by a couple Minneapolis locals we know and trust):
- Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) News, a public news organization
- Racket, a “writer-owned, reader-funded, alt-weekly-style publication,” focused on Minnesota news.
- Sahan Journal, “a nonprofit digital newsroom dedicated to reporting for immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota.”
- Minnesota Reformer, an independent, nonprofit news organization based in Minnesota and part of the larger nationwide States Newsroom
- Minnesota Star Tribune, a large daily paper (caveat: it is owned by a billionaire, albeit a local billionaire.)
- Ben Joveland (@benjoveland) on Instagram, a photojournalist for MPR News who was onsite at the shooting
Local response
The brutal federal responses to protests nationwide didn’t stop more demonstrations and vigils from springing up in Minneapolis and across the country, including here in Spokane. Photojournalist Sandra Rivera was on scene to document the rapid response vigil, where more than 50 folks gathered at the fountain in Riverfront Park to mourn Good and prepare the community for continued action against ICE.
Organizers from Mutual Aid Survival Squad (MASS) and Spokane Community Organized Response Network (SCORN) put up tables with everything from hand warmers, candles, warm drinks to art prints that read “ICE are murderers.”
There was a moment of silence for Good and her family, followed by impromptu speeches from organizers and attendees. Looking out over the crowd, Ari Dean, a local organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, spoke about the importance of standing together.
“I see a group of people that are willing to fight for each other. I see a group of people that are moved by love for their community and the belief and knowledge that we can have a different world, that we don’t have to live in a world that is characterized by hate and racist violence,” Dean said. “Even if it happens halfway across the country or halfway across the world, violence and injustice matters.”
At one point, the crowd chanted useful information folks should know when documenting immigration enforcement action, like:
- “What’s your badge number?
- Are you a federal agent?
- Is that a judicial warrant?
- I’m exercising my right to film.
- Is that a judicial warrant signed by a judge?
- I’m exercising my right to film, and I’m not interfering.”
At the end of the event, organizers gave out free whistles that folks can use to alert their neighbors of nearby immigration agents: “Three quick notes let people know of danger or emergency.”
Photos by Sandra Rivera.
Get involved
Local organizers plan to continue protesting the actions of the federal government, both at large and specifically when it comes to Ross killing Good. We will update this section with action opportunities as they are confirmed.
- An “ICE Out for Good” protest will be held on Saturday, January 10 at BA Clark Park from 2 to 4 pm
- Various groups have previously planned mobilizations scheduled before the 6 pm Spokane City Council meeting on January 12 focused on US military action in Venezuela and the federal devaluation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.
- The Spokane Anarchists are holding a March Against ICE beginning at Riverfront Park on January 18 at noon.
- Foray for the Arts is hosting a poetry memorial to remember Good by “sharing poetry of love, resistance and defiance,” at the Post Street Bridge on Tuesday, January 13 at 7pm.
As we’ve documented increased local surveillance at protests (and other news outlets have uncovered widescale surveillance used by the federal government), here are a few tips on protecting digital safety during protests.
This is not the beginning or end of ICE violence
Good’s killing is the latest escalation in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts, though it’s far from the first; since Trump took office in 2025, there have been at least 15 shootings associated with immigration action.
In September, Silverio Villegas González was shot while fleeing agents in a Chicago suburb.
In December, Border Patrol agents shot a man on the Mexico-Texas border as they tried to detain him.
On New Year’s Eve, an off-duty Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agent shot and killed a man in California that authorities said raised a weapon.
These reports don’t encompass other violence and fatalities at the hands of immigration agents that don’t involve guns, like the two men hit by drivers of cars as they attempted to flee detainment and a farmworker who fell from a roof during an immigration raid. They also don’t account for violence before 2025; reporting from The Trace found ICE agents were responsible for 59 shootings between 2015 and 2021 — 23 of which were fatal.
In 2025, 32 people died in ICE facilities, making it the most deadly year for immigrants held in ICE custody since 2004. The Marshall Report found neglect and dangerous conditions contributed to the ghastly death toll.
Last year also saw record numbers of violence and federal overreach from ICE in other ways: reporting from Propublica found that in 2025 ICE had detained more than 600 immigrant children, held more than 170 US citizens and acted with impunity as a “violent, shadowy police force.”
Locally, Spokane saw the impacts of federal violence too, as masked federal agents shoved protesters (and our journalist) at the June 11 protest against ICE’s detainment of two young men — Cesar Perez and Joswar Torres — who had come to the United States legally on a humanitarian parole program abruptly cancelled by Trump. More than 30 people were arrested on local charges related to the protest that day, and nine were later charged with federal crimes.
As we were editing this story, we got an alert on our phones: in Portland, Oregon this afternoon, two people were shot by federal immigration officers. That story is ongoing.
Editor’s Note: We edited this story to link to the breaking news of the shooting this afternoon out of Oregon. We also added additional protest events.
