Why are federal agents gunning down Americans in the streets?

The shooting of Renee Good, like all of the ICE abuses, is symptomatic of a deeper mental illness.

“What if you knew her and/ Found her dead on the ground/ How can you run when you know” — Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

I am neither a forensic expert nor a jury member, but it sure looks to me like an ICE agent shot and killed a woman who wasn’t threatening his life. We have video of the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis on January 7th, and the Washington Post has a detailed blow-by-blow analysis of the video:

In the aftermath [of the killing], Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem said [Renee Good] had committed an act of “domestic terrorism,” first disobeying officers’ commands and then weaponizing her SUV by attempting to “run a law enforcement officer over.” President Donald Trump said the woman “violently, willfully and viciously ran over the ICE officer.”

A frame-by-frame analysis of video footage, however, raises questions about those accounts. The SUV did move toward the ICE agent as he stood in front of it. But the agent was able to move out of the way and fire at least two of three shots from the side of the vehicle as it veered past him…

The agent…can be seen standing behind Good’s SUV…The agent then walks around the passenger side…[T]wo additional agents…approach Good…A voice can be heard saying to “get out” of the car at least two times. One of the agents puts a hand on the opening of the driver’s side window and with his other hand tugs twice quickly on the door handle, but the driver’s door does not open…[T]he SUV begins to back up…

The agent who was first seen behind Good’s SUV reemerges in front of the vehicle…The SUV quickly pulls forward, and then veers to the right, in the correct direction of traffic on the one-way street…As the vehicle moves forward, video shows, the agent moves out of the way and at nearly the same time fires his first shot. The footage shows that his other two shots were fired from the side of the vehicle.

For more details surrounding the incident, and for the full video, check out the Washington Post article. Here’s a frame-by-frame analysis by Bellingcat:

Here’s another link where you can see videos of the incident from three different angles. Here’s a good post analyzing the videos in detail. Here’s an assessment by a 25-year ICE veteran whose job was to evaluate shootings by the agency.

It’s not clear whether Good meant to hit the ICE agent with her car, or meant to threaten to hit him, when she briefly pulled forward before driving away. Nor is it clear why Good was interacting with the agents in the first place. What does seem clear is that when the agent fired his second and third shots at Good, he was standing to the side of her car, and thus was not directly threatened by the car. Cars cannot drive sideways.

Again, I’m not a jury member, but my understanding of the law is that if you’re not defending yourself from a threat, you’re not allowed to kill someone. It’s possible that the agent — now identified as Jonathan Ross — fired those second and third shots at Good in retaliation for a threat on his life that had already passed. (The first shot was fired from diagonally in front of the car, where it might have been possible for Good to hit Ross.)

That’s just about the most charitable interpretation possible. But if someone threatens you and then runs away, you’re not allowed to shoot them in the back as they run. That’s not self defense.

And of course, there are more uncharitable interpretations here. It’s possible Ross shot Good on a pretext of self defense, because he was simply angry at her for refusing his demands to open the car door, or because she was trying to film him. One of the ICE officers can be heard yelling a vulgar insult at Good.¹

Under normal circumstances, I suppose Ross might be prosecuted for manslaughter or something like that. But ICE has been heavily politicized, and so the Trump administration leapt doggedly to Ross’ defense. Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security called Good a “terrorist”, and Trump, lying as usual, said that Good had “run over the ICE officer”. But it’s Vice President JD Vance who has been the most dogged and vociferous in his defense of Ross and vilification of Renee Good:

The Vice President’s claim that the shots were fired from the front of the car is pretty clearly false. He also repeatedly talked about ICE agents “going door to door” to deport illegal immigrants — pretty clearly ignoring the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which prohibits “unreasonable searches and seizures”.

Vance’s reception on social media — even from the kind of “tech right” types that are usually his fans — was largely negative. Here’s a fairly representative tweet:

That mirrors the overall mood in the country. Here’s Axios, two days after the killing in Minnesota:

Americans now disapprove of ICE and support protests against the agency, according to a new poll conducted the same day a federal officer fatally shot a 37-year-old mother in Minneapolis…A YouGov poll of over 2,600 U.S. adults on Jan. 7, found people don’t like the way ICE operates…About 52% either somewhat or strongly disapproved of how ICE was handling its job, compared to 39% who somewhat or strongly approved…Just 27% said the agency’s tactics were “about right” compared to 51% who called them “too forceful”. Another 10% said they were “not forceful enough.”…A 44% plurality of adults approved of recent ICE protests, while 42% disapproved…ICE had a +16 net approval rating last February at the start of Trump’s second term, according to YouGov…That rating cratered over the year to -14[.]

Two days is probably far too early for the killing of Good to have shifted national opinion radically. The negative drift in views toward ICE is probably due to their consistent record of brutality, aggression, dubious legality, and unprofessionalism in Trump’s second term.

Here’s a video of ICE agents in Arkansas beating up an unarmed U.S. citizen. Here’s a video of ICE agents arresting two U.S. citizens in a Target. Here’s a story about a similar arrest. Here’s a video of an ICE agent brandishing a gun in the face of a protester. Here’s the story of ICE agents arresting a pastor who complained about an arrest he saw. Here’s a video of ICE agents arresting an American citizen and punching him repeatedly. Here’s a video of ICE agents threatening a bystander who complained about their reckless driving. Here’s a video of ICE agents arresting a man for yelling at them from his own front porch. Here’s a video of ICE agents making a particularly brutal arrest while pointing their weapons at unarmed civilians nearby. Here’s a story about another ICE killing, this one in Maryland, under dubious circumstances. Here’s a video of ICE agents savagely beating and arresting a legal immigrant. Here’s a video of ICE agents storming a private home without a warrant. Here’s a video of ICE agents pulling a disabled woman out of a car when she’s just trying to get to the doctor.

These are all things I noticed on X within just the last two days. There has been a pretty constant stream of these for months. Here’s a roundup of some others, by Jeremiah Johnson:

For the past year, ICE has been involved in a series of escalating incidents that rarely result in repercussions for anyone involved. ICE agents have recklessly caused traffic accidents and then, in one incident, arrested the person whose car they hit. They’ve tear-gassed a veteran, arrested him, and denied him access to medical care and an attorney. They have attacked protesters merely for filming them in public. They’ve pepper-sprayed a fleeing onlooker in the eyes from a foot away. They’ve pointed guns at a 6-year-old. They’ve knelt on top of a pregnant woman while they arrested her. They have arrested another pregnant woman, then kept her separated from her newborn while she languished in custody. They have repeatedly arrested American citizens, and they’ve even reportedly deported a citizen, directly contradicting court orders.

These are anecdotes, but there have also been careful, systematic reports about ICE arrests and mistreatment of U.S. citizens and poor conditions in ICE detention centers.

The Wall Street Journal also reviewed some other videos and other records of ICE shootings, and found a similar pattern to the Renee Good killing:

The Wall Street Journal has identified 13 instances of agents firing at or into civilian vehicles since July, leaving at least eight people shot with two confirmed dead…The Journal reviewed public records—court documents, agency press releases and gun-violence databases—of vehicle shootings involving immigration agents, though video is only publicly available for four of them…The Minneapolis shooting shares characteristics with others the Journal reviewed: Agents box in a vehicle, try to remove an individual, block attempts to flee, then fire.

Instead of causing ICE agents to pause in consternation, the killing of Renee Good appears to have made many even more aggressive. Here’s a video of an ICE agent in Minnesota telling a protester “Have y’all not learned from the past coupla days?”. Here’s a video of an ICE agent kicking over candles at a memorial for Renee Good.