ICE officer fatally shoots woman during Minneapolis operation

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis driver on Wednesday. Federal officials said it was an act of self-defense, but the mayor described it as reckless and unnecessary.

The 37-year-old woman, identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good, was shot in a snowy residential neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis. Video appeared to show her accelerating her vehicle towards an ICE agent.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described the incident as an “act of domestic terrorism” carried out against ICE officers by a woman who “attempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot, to protect himself and the people around him.”

In a social media post, President Donald Trump made similar statements and defended ICE’s work.

Hours later, at an evening news conference in Minnesota, Noem claimed the woman was part of a “mob of agitators” and said the officer followed his training. She said the veteran officer who fired his gun had been rammed and dragged by an anti-ICE motorist in June.

“Any loss of life is a tragedy, and I think all of us can agree that in this situation, it was preventable,” Noem said, adding that the FBI would investigate.

But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey criticized the federal deployment of more than 2,000 officers to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul as part of the immigration crackdown, calling on the immigration agents to leave.

Videos taken by bystanders with different vantage points and posted to social media show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to accelerate forward, and a different ICE officer in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots into the vehicle at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.

It was not clear from the videos if the vehicle made contact with the officer. The SUV then sped into two cars parked on a curb nearby before crashing to a stop. After the shooting, emergency medical technicians tried to administer aid to the woman.

In a video posted from the scene on social media, a woman, who described Macklin Good as her spouse, is seen crying near the vehicle. 

The Twin Cities have been on edge since DHS announced Tuesday that it had launched the operation, which is at least partly tied to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. Noem said they had already made “hundreds and hundreds” of arrests.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he's prepared to deploy the National Guard if necessary. He said, like many, he was outraged by the shooting, but he called on people to keep protests peaceful.

Commissioner Bob Jacobson of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said state authorities would investigate the shooting with federal authorities.

“Keep in mind that this is an investigation that is also in its infancy. So any speculation about what has happened would be just that,” Jacobson told reporters.