Was Good Doing Bad?

An examination of who bears responsibility for the killing of Renee Good

As I’m sure everyone knows, on Wednesday January 7th, a woman (Renee Good) was killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. Shortly after it happened, I reposted images of the shooter and called him a thug. I called the killing murder. I was accused of reacting emotionally and before all the facts were known. Certainly all the facts were not (and still are not) known — but I was judging based on the firsthand evidence of my own eyes, as well as my knowledge of the nature and conduct of ICE. As a result, there is no doubt in my mind that the killer (now identified as Jonathan Ross) is a thug. At this point, only thugs would work for ICE. Any decent ICE employee would have quit long ago. But the charge of murder needs further examination.

As with most arguments, much hinges on definitions. Clearly, this doesn’t seem like first-degree murder, where premeditation and intent are the key factors. Second degree murders, though, are killings that are intended (often in the heat of the moment such as “crimes of passion), but not planned. The key factor here is the intent to kill in the moment. By this standard, it’s hard to watch the footage and not think this man committed murder. One shot might be taken in fear. But three shots?

MAGA is claiming that Ross feared for his life. Objectively, it is clear from all the video footage, regardless of the angle, that his life was never in any danger. That doesn’t mean that he didn’t believe that it was in the heat of the moment. Intent does matter — but so do the objective facts of the situation. I think the most likely scenario is that this guy was poorly trained, drunk on power, and furious that someone (a woman) would dare to oppose his authority. As a result, he felt justified in firing at her, at “taking her out.” It’s also entirely possible he fired more out of incompetence than malice, in which case a more appropriate charge might be manslaughter or negligent manslaughter — that would be up to the criminal justice system to decide.

Predictably, MAGA commentators have come crawling out of the woodwork to justify this shooting without seriously examining the facts. They’re trying to convince people that the killing was self defense. As part of this effort, they’re saying that Good was a leftist agitator. Kristi Noem called her a “domestic terrorist.” Trump immediately began lying, saying she “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer.” If you’ve seen the footage, you know that simply did not happen. She may have bumped him, but it’s not even clear that she saw him there. From what I could tell, she was trying to get the hell out of there — which, according to some witnesses, is what some of the ICE agents were telling her to do (while others were shouting to get out of the car). Is it really so hard to believe that ICE agents were yelling conflicting orders and that she was scared and confused?

For those so desperately trying to vilify Good and justify ICE’s actions, their narrative falls apart when you examine what happened after the shooting. Not only was there no attempt to get medical assistance for Good, but ICE apparently blocked medics who did show up. These are not people who have any concern for human life. Any decent human being would be horrified by what had just happened and would be trying to see if the woman’s life could be saved.

Several commentators have pointed out that something like this was inevitable. I agree. In fact, similar death have already happened, though none quite this visible and well documented. More deaths will continue to occur as long as we give ICE unconstitutional powers and the green light to act like jack-booted thugs.

I think it’s important that the shooter face justice. JD Vance has already said that Ross has “absolute immunity,” that he was “just doing his job.” I’m sorry, but that is unacceptable. No one’s job involves shooting an unarmed citizen, regardless of whether or not she was blocking traffic. Even if obstructing ICE vehicles is illegal, is it a “crime” that should be punishable by death? Is MAGA really so degenerate at this point that they are advocating the death penalty for any resistance to government authority? Resisting government overreach is literally what our country was founded on! Cries of “It was self-defense” or “Her vehicle was a deadly weapon!” ring hollow in this case. Examine the footage again. The wheels of her car were pointing away from Ross and the front of the car was probably already past him when he began firing (and definitely was past him when the second and third shots were fired). Plus the car was traveling slowly enough that he was easily able (and in fact did) jump out of the way. Yes, a car can be a deadly weapon. So can a ball point pen in the right hands. The footage simply does not support the contention that she was using her car as a weapon.

It seems likely that the federal government is not going to hold Ross accountable. In which case, Minnesota definitely should, despite the fact that the FBI is refusing to cooperate. Remember states’ rights, which used to be sacrosanct among Republicans? Ross should be tried under state statutes. If he truly did nothing wrong, he can make his case in a court of law. But granting him “absolute immunity” in the absence of a full investigation is giving the federal government a license to kill. Trump and his administration seem to already believe they have this. Any remaining believers in limited government need to make it clear they are wrong.

What happened to this woman is a horribly tragedy. It was inevitable given this administration’s approach to immigration enforcement — but completely avoidable if enforcement had been approached properly. I’m not fan of either Biden or Obama, but both administrations managed to carry out greater numbers of deportations than Trump has without terrorizing people. I don’t support the immigration laws in the first place, but if you’re going to have unjust laws, you can (indeed, must) enforce them using proper guidelines and restraint. But that is not what ICE or this administration is interested in. We can look forward to more tragedies unless we put our foot down and say “enough.”