Advocates, governor react to deadly ICE-involved shooting in Minnesota

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Advocates in the Triangle are responding to Wednesday's deadly ICE-involved shooting, as demonstrations were planned for Thursday night.

"I was heartbroken to hear the news that tensions and the terror had reached this level. However, because of the escalating way in which ICE had been operating with no restraints, with no accountability, it is not surprising that it reached this," said Veronica Aguilar, Communications Director with El Pueblo.

"There are factors that an officer has to be aware of and run through before they can use any sort of force. I would say after seeing that video, none of those factors were met in that instance," added Ivy Johnson, a staff attorney with the ACLU of North Carolina.

ICE agents were deployed to Minneapolis when they approached 37-year-old Renee Good, who was in the driver's seat of an SUV blocking the middle of the street.

A witness says it appeared Good was trying to adjust her car and move it from the street. When she started to accelerate toward him, an agent began yelling at her before firing multiple shots, striking and killing her.

"This appears as an attempt to kill or cause bodily harm to agents. An act of domestic terrorism. The ICE officer, fearing for his life and the other officers around him and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots," said Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump wrote:

I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense. Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital. The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE. We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!

Political leaders in Minnesota saw a different narrative.

"This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying," said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

Criminologist Dr. Alex del Carmen with Del Carmen Consulting has viewed the video of the shooting from two different angles and does not believe the agent's actions were justified.

"This is a really bad practice. From the moment this (agent) stands in front of the vehicle and doesn't move to the side, which is what we tell law enforcement to do in these situations, where the officer can clearly do that. The fact that he took his gun out and shoots into the person while the innocent bystanders are close by. And then this person loses control of the vehicle and crashes against another car," said del Carmen.

Gov. Josh Stein released a statement to ABC11 on Thursday afternoon, saying, "The shooting and killing of Renee Good in Minnesota is a tragedy, and my heart goes out to her family. All law enforcement, including ICE, must promote public safety, not put lives at risk or stoke fear. There should be a thorough and transparent investigation and process to ensure accountability and keep people safe."

As local law enforcement responds to planned demonstrations following the shooting, del Carmen said there are concerns of escalation.

"The anger that's been launched against people in uniform, although I understand the sentiments that people have, it's being launched that the wrong crowd. It's being launched at people that had nothing to do with this incident (and) don't even work for the federal government. I really think we have to be very cautious, and I pray and hope that these protests are done in a peaceful manner, that people actually engage in their First Amendment rights," del Carmen explained.

"It is incredibly important for all of us right now to be using our voices to show up in ways that feel safe to themselves, to speak out against this, to hold ICE accountable, to say that we are not as a people going to stand for our communities being terrorized, attacked," said Aguilar.

Johnson urged people who do attend demonstrations to do so safely.

"If you're protesting in the street and the officer asks you to please go on to the sidewalk, it's safer to follow that order. That can be considered a reasonable order," Johnson said.