Activists Demand Accountability After Renee Good Shooting in Minneapolis
The Renee Good shooting has prompted civil rights activists, families impacted by police violence, and community organizations to demand accountability from state and local officials. Gathering outside the Hennepin County Government Center, speakers rejected the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s claim that it could not proceed after the U.S. Attorney’s Office blocked access to evidence. Organizers called on Keith Ellison, Jacob Frey, and Tim Walz to launch a local investigation and arrest the federal agent identified as responsible for the Renee Good shooting.
‘Federal officers are not above the law’
Civil rights activists, members of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, and families who have lost loved ones to police violence gathered in Minneapolis to argue that the shooting death of constitutional observer Renee Good reflects a long and painful pattern of state violence.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced it could not proceed with its investigation after the U.S. Attorney’s Office blocked access to evidence. Activists said they reject that explanation.
The coalition is calling on the BCA to continue its investigation regardless of federal cooperation. They are also demanding that Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in coordination with the Minneapolis Police Department, and Gov. Tim Walz launch a local investigation and arrest Jonathan Ross, the federal agent identified by the Star Tribune as the person who shot and killed Good.
Speaking outside the Hennepin County Government Center, organizers emphasized that the presence of federal officers does not eliminate local responsibility. Civil rights attorney and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong outlined what she described as the legal framework that allows state and local authorities to act even when federal agencies refuse to cooperate.
“Federal officers are not above the law, and federal employment does not confer immunity from accountability,” Armstrong said. “Local and state authorities have the legal authority to investigate, arrest and charge a federal officer when there is probable cause that a state crime occurred.”
Armstrong said existing law does not categorically prevent the arrest of federal agents, but instead allows them to raise legal defenses later in court. Activists say that distinction has been ignored in order to shield Ross, who they say was filmed shooting at Good as she attempted to drive away from ICE officers.
“What federal law allows is for officers to raise defenses later before a judge, not to avoid arrest altogether,” Armstrong said. “That is why today we are calling on the Minneapolis Police Department and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office to immediately arrest the ICE agent who killed Renee Good.”
Speakers also challenged the official narrative released by federal authorities, citing video footage and eyewitness accounts from the Jan. 7 shooting at 34th Street and Portland Avenue. They said use-of-force standards were violated when shots were fired at a vehicle that was moving away.
“And I’m going to say this plainly, because the truth matters,” Armstrong said. “The federal government is lying about this killing.”
The shooting occurred during what federal officials described as the largest ICE deployment in U.S. history, a campaign organizers said has disproportionately targeted Minnesota communities. They also emphasized that Good was a U.S. citizen, raising questions about why she was confronted by immigration agents.
“Renee Good was an American citizen,” Armstrong said. “ICE is an immigration enforcement agency.”
For many families in attendance, the circumstances echoed their own experiences with police violence that went unpunished. Toshira Garraway Allen, whose fiancé Justin Teigen was found dead in a dumpster in 2009 following a traffic stop, said the situation felt painfully familiar.
“You all are witnessing what our families have endured over and over and over,” Allen said, her voice breaking. “You’re watching them carry out what appears to be an active cover-up, even though we can see with our own eyes what happened.”
Allen said that only community-held video prevented authorities from fully controlling the narrative in Good’s case. She said that in past cases, including Teigen’s, evidence was often withheld or manipulated by prosecutors and police.
“The only difference this time is they didn’t have access to the videos our community had,” Allen said. “White supremacy does not care who it hurts.”
Organizers connected Good’s killing to broader systems of power rather than individual misconduct, arguing that white supremacy operates through institutions that prioritize control and impunity over human life.
“As you can see, they killed a white woman in broad daylight,” one speaker said. “White supremacy has one agenda: control.”
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, echoed calls for immediate action, saying symbolic investigations are insufficient. Accountability, he said, requires arrests, charges, and sustained pressure on those in power.
According to “The Trace,” there have been at least 15 shootings by federal agents nationwide, including four deaths during a federal raid in Chicago on Sept. 30 under President Donald Trump.
“It starts with accountability. It starts with justice,” Hussein said. “ICE is not above the law. No one is above the law.”
For families and organizers, the message was clear: This is not a new crisis, but a continuation of state violence that they say has gone unchecked for generations. Until arrests are made and ICE is dismantled, organizers said, justice in Minnesota will remain deferred rather than delivered.
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