2026-3 Manipulating Deadly Force

 

  On the Wednesday morning of 7 January, 2026 at approximately 0937, an American citizen was shot and killed by an ICE officer in the residential street of Portland Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The person killed was a female, white, 37 years of age, a wife, and a mother of three. Her name was Renee Good. There were no reports that Good had a criminal history, and no reports that she had any outstanding warrants for her arrest.

Renee Good was the driver of a Honda Pilot SUV. At the time of contact by ICE officers, Good had stopped her vehicle in a sideways position facing east, blocking a portion of the one-way, southbound lane of traffic on Portland Avenue between 33^rd and 34^th Streets. Good did not appear to be armed or present any immediate threat to herself or the community. In video footage taken at the scene, her demeanor appeared to be polite and spoken with an assuring tone. When confronted by multiple ICE officers who approached the driver's window of her vehicle, the officers ordered her to “Get out” of her vehicle. Good attempted to drive away from the area. It was at this precise moment, while driving away from the scene that an ICE officer, later identified as Jonathan Ross, drew his service weapon and fired multiple rounds at Good. One round penetrated the front windshield, and two rounds were fired through the open driver's window. Good was struck by multiple rounds and died after her vehicle turned and proceeded at speed, south along Portland Avenue, a short distance before striking another vehicle parked along the curb. A light pole brought her vehicle to a stop.

How do we get to the bottom of this horrible situation? How do we find out the facts about what actually happened? Our President of the United States weighed in on the incident. He made a statement about the shooting on his social media platform. Do we take his word for it? The Director of Homeland Security came on national TV and told us what happened. Do we believe her without question? The highly important positions that either of these individuals holds at our nation's capital should be enough in itself, for us to take them at their word and move on, right? We should be able to believe our leaders, the people in charge of our national security. But, in this instance, we can't take their word for it. Why? Because some of the statements they made about the shooting are simply untrue, not factual, and some in my opinion, are obviously lies.

It's not fun diving deep into the circumstances surrounding the killing of Renee Good. Many people may find it disturbing, traumatic, or even depressing. It's not information or imagery they want floating around in their psyche. However, it's important that we learn the facts. Not just the report from one tweet, one particular news station, or one angle of view from a video recording. We can't base our conclusion on how our own political party spins the information. We need to look at all available information, factual information, in order to understand what happened and how it happened. Having this information gives us power. The confidence in knowing we are knowledgeable of what actually occurred because our information is based on facts.

Although I feel compelled to post this blog spot about the shooting of Renee Good, I don't want you to take my description of what happened without questioning it. I have reviewed multiple video clips that are available online. I have read numerous articles, and watched multiple news reports on television. After spending considerable time collecting this information I also have an additional resource, the personal knowledge I gained working in law enforcement during my 20 year career in the US military. That personal experience of completing technical training in airbase defense, law enforcement operations, criminal investigations and a four month long civilian police academe, in conjunction to the research I've done about the shooting, gives me the ability to speak intelligently about Renee's actions and that of ICE Officer Ross. However, I still expect you to do your own research. Confirm the facts I state and the conclusions I'll be making based on those facts.

First things first. We can easily separate the obvious lies from the truth, so we start out on the right foot. The President of the United States posted on his social media about the shooting of Renee Good. He refers to a female, who can be heard screaming in the background after the shooting, as “...obviously, a professional agitator...” He continued his post referring to Renee as the woman driving the car, “...who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer... These statements by our President are totally false, based on both my opinion and based on the facts available in the videos recorded at the incident. In fact, his statements are so contradictory to what your eyes actually see when watching the videos, that one can only assume he may be intentionally lying to the American people about the incident.

The facts that reflect the truth about the shooting indicate that no individual has been identified by law enforcement as being a “professional agitator” at the scene. The statement by the President, contrary to this fact, appears to be his personal opinion, not factual in the least. The second fact that totally contradicts the President's false statement, is that it is easily seen in the videos that the ICE Officer is NOT run over. Not violently, willfully, or viciously. He simply was not run over at all. In fact, throughout the entirety of the incident, the ICE Officer remains standing and is able to fire three rounds that kill Renee Good.

This is a serious situation. You must ask yourself why our President would make false statements about the shooting of Renee Good? What would be his reason for doing so? My personal opinion is that the President knows many people will never take the time to review in detail the many video recordings of the incident. He also knows that his supporters and maybe a certain percentage of the remaining population will simply take his word concerning what happened. He's the President after all. Therefore, he says what he wants you to believe. What fits into his narrative that will help support his actions of sending ICE Officers into various cities around the country. The fact remains that many of the President's comments about the shooting are false and anyone reviewing the videos of the shooting can easily confirm this. So please, take the time to review the videos in detail. See the facts for yourself.

In separating further lies from the truth, we must consider the remarks made by the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem concerning the shooting. She began a press briefing on Wednesday morning after the shooting in which she stated, “You asked about a shooting that we just had in Minneapolis, Minnesota, um, it was an act of domestic terrorism.” Wait, what? Now that is taking this situation to a whole new level.

There is nothing about the actions of Renee Good on that fateful morning that could be considered “domestic terrorism”. We all know what a terrorist is. It's the person who sabotages equipment and facilities. The people who set things on fire, blow things up, or shoot people at random with the intent to terrorize a population. There is a big difference between a terrorist and a civil protester. Renee Good was protesting the actions of ICE officers in her town. There is evidence that suggests she may have also been in violation of minor offenses such as, obstructing traffic, interfering with the duties of federal officers and attempting to flee from federal officers. While these suspected offenses could be argued either way in a court of law, there is one thing we know for a fact, Renee Good was not involved in “domestic terrorism”. To suggest this is simply a lie, or at worst, it suggests anyone participating in a civil protest against the government can be labeled a domestic terrorist. That is something you'd only expect in a dictatorship.

As a society, we should be able to recognize that Renee Good may have violated the law, all be they minor infractions and in a non-violent manner. However, as a society, we should also be able to agree that any of these violations in no way justify her being shot to death. The argument by ICE and the administration will be that she was shot, not for violating the law, but for the act of placing an ICE officer in fear of serious bodily harm or death due to the manner in which she operated her vehicle.

This is where I focused my attention to gather the relevant facts concerning the shooting of Renee Good. In revealing these facts, I will also unveil the ICE officer's willingness to violate his department's policies and ignore his police training in order to create the circumstances that allowed him to justify using deadly force. This manipulation of the use of deadly force is not unique to this incident. It is not unique to ICE. In fact, there are many examples, all around the country, of police officers intentionally creating circumstances at the scene of an incident to ensure they can successfully argue the justification for the use of deadly force.

It is a simple maneuver. It takes only a split second, or as few as one step in a given direction. It can be as subtle as the slide of the hand in a magic trick. When we see that a jury will often give the benefit of the doubt to a law enforcement officer who states he was in fear for his life, it is almost certain that the trial will result in an acquittal for the officer involved. However, without this small violation of the department policy or the intentional ignoring of police training, the officer is sure to face the consequences of their actions.

Renee Good was shot because the ICE officer physically placed himself in a position in front of her vehicle to create the illusion he was at risk of serious injury or death. While this intentional positioning was in violation of department policy and went against the best practices of his police training, it allowed the ICE officer to claim the shooting was “justified”.

First an foremost, we must understand an indisputable fact. There is no police department, state or federal, that trains its officers to stand directly in front of, or directly behind a suspect's vehicle in an attempt to prevent it from moving. Especially when the suspect, or person of interest, is in control of that vehicle, and the vehicle is operational. You simply won't find a department that thinks this is a good idea. Most vehicles weigh thousands of pounds. Most officers weigh only a couple of hundred pounds when fully kitted out in their gear. No one can physically stop a vehicle using only their body, so why would you stand directly in front of or behind one? It is stupid, and all police departments train their officers to avoid these positions.

If the various violations of the law that Renee Good is suspected of being involved in do not by themselves justify the use of deadly force, how does the ICE officer justify deploying his weapon and firing three rounds into Renee Good's body, killing her? The element that was missing from the incident to justify the shooting was the threat of serious bodily harm or death. So, the ICE officer created the circumstances that produced the element of this threat. Here's how he and far too many other law enforcement officers around the country do this.

  In one of the many videos posted online concerning the shooting, we first see Renee Good's vehicle blocking a portion of the southbound, one-way lane of traffic of the residential street Portland Avenue. This video footage was taken by ICE Officer Ross using his own cell phone. ICE Officer Ross records a complete 360 degree walk around of Good's vehicle. He has exited his vehicle which is stopped in the lane of traffic adjacent the passenger side of Renee Good's vehicle. On foot, he begins his walk starting on the passenger side of Renee's car. From this angle we see the rear passenger window is rolled down. In the back seat is what appears to be an older, black Labrador dog calmly watching the events unfold. There also appears to be a person in the driver's seat in control of the vehicle which at the moment remained stopped.

ICE Officer Ross walks around the front of the vehicle while he continues to record. At this point we can see Renee Good in the driver's seat. He continues counterclockwise around the driver's side of the car. Good's driver's window is open and we hear her make a comment as she looks at ICE Officer Ross making the recording, “It's fine dude, I'm not mad.” This comment is made in a relatively high-pitched voice with what could be considered a reassuring tone. We can see Officer Ross' reflection on the side of the vehicle as he walks around holding his phone in front of him while making the recording. In this recording we do not see or hear ICE Officer Ross attempt to communicate with Good. He does not instruct her to move her vehicle, nor does he ask her to exit the vehicle.

ICE Officer Ross continues around to the rear of the vehicle where he stands briefly directly behind it. Here he turns his phone camera to his right, away from the vehicle and records a bystander that we later learn is Good's wife. She is also on foot using her phone camera to record the actions of Officer Ross. Good's wife appears to verbally confront Officer Ross about his actions using an occasional expletive. She seems to explain how she does not change the license plates every morning, and claims it will be the same plate when ICE officers come back later. This behavior does not appear to cause Officer Ross any concern because we then see him turn his back to her and continue recording the exterior of the vehicle. We see ICE Officer Ross reposition himself back adjacent to the right front quarter panel on the passenger side of the vehicle. Good's wife is now positioned near the front passenger door.

  It is at this time that an unmarked ICE pickup arrives on scene with their low profile emergency lights flashing. Their vehicle is stopped in the lane of traffic a couple of car lengths away from the driver's side of Renee Good's car. Two ICE Officers exit the truck and walk towards the driver's door of the vehicle and order Renee Good to get out of the car. One of the ICE Officers repeats the command using an expletive, “Get out of the f*ing car.” In a bystander's video, we see one of the approaching ICE Officers grab the door handle of Good's vehicle in an attempt to open it, but is unable to. Renee puts her vehicle in reverse, backing the vehicle up several feet. This changes the angle of her car in a manner that would allow her to proceed in a southbound direction on Portland Avenue, away from the ICE Officers. At this point, ICE Officer Ross continues to walk back around to the front of the vehicle.

This is a crucial moment. It is in this split second of the video that we see ICE Officer Ross manipulate the circumstances of the incident in order to justify the use of deadly force. Up until the point that Renee Good begins to move her vehicle, none of her actions warranted the use of deadly force. Again, up until this crucial moment, the element missing to justify using deadly force in this incident was the absence of a threat of serious bodily harm or death to the ICE Officers on scene. Although Renee Good was backing her vehicle in the first move at an attempt to flee the area and avoid possible arrest, this action did not threaten anyone at the scene. ICE Officers were positioned on either side of her vehicle, not in front of nor behind, therefore there was no immediate threat to their safety.

However, in a bystander's video and that taken by Officer Ross, at the moment Renee Good backed her vehicle up several feet, we see ICE Officer Ross reposition himself to the front of Renee's vehicle and stand within an arms reach, directly in front of her driver's headlight. This slight repositioning of the physical presence by Officer Ross, placing himself directly in front of Renee Good's vehicle, is the moment he manipulates the circumstances of the incident. With this small movement of only a few steps, he has created a threat of serious bodily harm or death if the vehicle begins to move forward.

It is important to note here that within this brief contact between Renee Good and ICE Officers, Officer Ross has repeatedly violated his department's procedures and training by intentionally placing himself directly in front of and behind a vehicle being operated by a person of interest. By performing this repeated violation of training and procedures ICE Officer Ross knows, like many other law enforcement officers, once they are in the direct path of a vehicle, any movement of that vehicle constitutes an imminent threat to their safety. This is the missing element within the circumstances of the incident that Officer Ross created, allowing him to claim that the use of deadly force was justified.

Once positioned in front of Renee's vehicle, ICE Officer Ross assumes what is known in law enforcement as a ready position. This is a physical stance used by many law enforcement officers just prior to drawing and firing their weapon. Typically, the officer stands in an upright position with his feet about shoulder width apart, the weak side foot is slightly in front of the dominant foot, and his shooting hand is firmly grasped onto his holstered pistol, ready to draw. The instant Renee's vehicle begins to move forward we see ICE Officer Ross draw his firearm from its holster. He extends his shooting hand forward over the hood of the vehicle, pointing it at the front windshield and Renee Good.

Unfortunately, Renee Good was unaware of the manipulation of the circumstances by ICE Officer Ross as she began to move her vehicle forward in an attempt to flee the scene. Did Renee Good intend to hit or run over ICE Officers? The answer is no. She had no intentions of harming anyone. You can see this proof by reviewing the video recording taken by ICE Officer Ross himself. It proves that at the moment Officer Ross steps in front of Renee's vehicle, immediately before the vehicle moves forward, we see Renee Good quickly turning the steering wheel of the car to the right. This move directs the vehicle away from ICE Officer Ross, not towards him.

  It is also important to note that the speed with which Renee begins moving her vehicle forward and to the right is a gradual increase, not a quick burst of speed. This fact is also proven in the video. We see that ICE Officer Ross has the time and ability to maneuver himself around to the side of the Renee's vehicle as it moves forward. ICE Officer Ross fires a round directly into the front windshield at Renee Good. It is also important to note here that Officer Ross fires his weapon using only his right shooting hand. While most police training does involve using only one hand to fire their weapon, the majority of the training involves using a two handed grip in order to better steady the weapon and control its recoil. So what was ICE Officer Ross doing with his non-shooting hand? Where was it located? Busy holding his cell phone.

  As the vehicle moves past the ICE Officers, all of which are now located on the driver's side of the vehicle out of the vehicle's path, Officer Ross fires two additional rounds through the open driver's window, striking Renee's head and upper torso. Officer Ross is not struck by, knocked over, nor run over by Renee Good's vehicle. In fact, he remains standing throughout the entire incident and walks down to where Renee's vehicle came to rest before returning to his vehicle and eventually departing the area.

  A body reacts in different ways to the violent penetration of multiple gunshot wounds. After being shot Renee's vehicle continues turning to the right, picking up speed as it travels south along Portland Avenue a short distance. About forty yards down the road, the vehicle jumps the far curb as it crashes into the back of a white sedan that is parked. The force of the collision causes the white sedan to leap forward and crash into the back of another sedan parked in front of it. Renee's vehicle comes to rest after striking a wooden power pole. The impact was severe enough to cause the rear end of Renee's vehicle to momentarily lift off the ground before coming to rest. Miraculously, the elderly Labrador in the backseat survived the crash.

  To recap, the use of deadly force in this situation could not be justified without ICE Officer Ross intentionally placing himself in harms way by standing in front of Renee Good's vehicle. It was against department procedures and training, and an intentional manipulation of the circumstances in order to justify the shooting. It is not unique to ICE. Many law enforcement officers from around the country violate their department procedures and training in this same manner to justify the use of deadly force. It happens far too often. It is preventable. However, as a society and as many criminal juries have shown, we are willing to accept this gross misconduct by police even when it results in the death of a non-violent citizen.

  Only ICE Officer Ross drew his weapon and fired at Renee Good. None of the other ICE Officers on scene drew their weapons or fired a single shot. This makes sense considering none of the other officers violated department procedures or training by standing in front of, or behind the vehicle, and they knew it was practice not to shoot into a moving vehicle in an attempt to keep it from fleeing. Only Officer Ross chose to do that. In my opinion and based on the facts of this incident, this shooting was not justified. Renee Good, an American citizen, mother of three, should still be alive today. The question to ask now is, What will we, as a civil society, do about it?