A U.S. immigration agent fatally shot a 37-year-old woman Wednesday in the city of Minneapolis, but the details of what led to the incident have left a wide chasm between federal and local government officials.
Trump administration officials say the woman, identified as Renee Nicole Good, was a “violent rioter” who was attempting to run over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents when an agent fired “defensive shots” at her vehicle.
But city and state leaders, as well as Democrats nationally, dispute that account.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says “this was an agent recklessly using his power and causing someone to die,” telling ICE agents, “Get out of our city.”
Several videos posted to social media by bystanders appear to show the moment of the shooting, which took place around 10:25 a.m. local time.
From different vantage points, a brown SUV can be seen blocking a residential street in Minneapolis. A crowd of people, who appear to be demonstrating, crowd along the sidewalk.
Several law enforcement vehicles appear nearby. Immigration officers stop in front of the vehicle parked on the street, get out of the truck and order the woman behind the wheel to get out of the SUV. One of the officers pulls the driver’s side door handle.
Another officer is positioned near the front of the vehicle. It is unclear where the officer is, based on videos immediately reviewed by the BBC. This officer opens fire as the brown SUV tries to drive away.
Three pops are heard and the vehicle can be seen losing control and crashing into a white car parked on the street nearby.
The shooting comes amid a major immigration crackdown in Minneapolis by the Trump administration.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the deceased woman’s actions constituted “domestic terrorism” and that ICE operations in the city would continue.
In an article on Truth Social, Trump said an ICE officer was “viciously” run over. “It’s hard to believe he’s alive, but he’s currently recovering in hospital,” he wrote.
The president also accused the “radical left” of “threatening, assaulting, and targeting our law enforcement and ICE agents on a daily basis.”
Speaking to reporters later in the day, Noem called the loss of life “preventable.”
But she repeatedly claimed that the ICE agent fired in self-defense and that Good used his vehicle as a “deadly weapon” against the agents. The details are pending an FBI investigation, she said, adding that the same agent injured Wednesday was also struck by a car while on duty in June.
The Minneapolis City Council, however, said Good was “simply taking care of her neighbors” when she was shot and killed.
Getty ImagesMinnesota state Gov. Tim Walz also pushed back on federal accounts of the incident.
“Don’t believe this propaganda machine,” Walz wrote in response to a Department of Homeland Security article about the shooting. “The State will ensure that a full, fair and timely investigation is conducted to ensure accountability and justice.”
Top Democrats, such as former Vice President Kamala Harris and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also released statements Wednesday evening. Harris called the Trump administration’s version of events “gaslighting.”
Protests broke out in several parts of the city as outraged Minneapolis residents condemned the shooting and called for ICE to leave. According to local media, the main gathering occurred near the scene of the shooting.
A makeshift vigil, with flowers and candles, was held in the snow, while demonstrators chanted slogans and gave speeches.
A group of protesters formed a line blocking the entrance to a federal courthouse with ICE agents standing inside, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The group of about 50 people chanted Good’s name and dispersed after breaking a window.
Protests are also taking place in cities outside of Minneapolis, with rallies expected in New Orleans, Miami, Seattle and New York.
Why is ICE in Minneapolis?
The Trump administration has deployed 2,000 additional federal agents to the Minneapolis area in recent weeks in response to allegations of welfare fraud in the state, sources told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
Frey said during the press conference Wednesday that ICE does not make the city safer. “They are tearing families apart, sowing chaos in our streets,” he said.
The deployment, which began Sunday, is one of the largest concentrations of Department of Homeland Security personnel in a U.S. city in recent years.
This follows an immigration enforcement campaign launched by ICE in late 2025 to target individuals in Minneapolis who have received deportation orders, including members of the city’s Somali community.
This community was frequently criticized by Trump, who called them “trash.”
“I don’t want them in our country. I’ll be honest with you,” the president said. “There’s a reason their country is worthless. Their country stinks.”
Trump then doubled down on his comments after a YouTube video from a conservative online content creator accused day care centers run by Somali immigrants of fraud.
“Send them back where they came from,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in December. In response, he also withheld federal child care funds intended for the state of Minnesota.
The Trump administration has also sent ICE agents to other cities, part of a widespread crackdown on what it sees as illegal immigration into the United States.
