Renee Good’s family filed two civil lawsuits Thursday in Minnesota federal court, seeking answers and accountability for the mother of three fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis on January 7. Court records show the suits target both the federal government and some of the most senior figures in the Trump administration.
Good was an American woman. Her death during the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Metro Surge prompted significant protests in the city and national outrage. Less than a year later, prosecutors haven’t filed charges.
Two Lawsuits, Two Legal Theories
The first suit names the United States of America as the sole defendant under the Federal Tort Claims Act. That law lets people sue the federal government for personal injury, property damage or death caused by alleged negligence from federal employees acting within their job duties.
The second suit goes further. It alleges, among other things, that senior federal officials, federal immigration enforcement agents and private actors conspired to interfere with civil rights. The defendants include ICE agent Jonathan Ross, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, White House border czar Tom Homan and other Trump administration figures. The family’s attorneys also named ten John Doe federal agents “for their respective individual roles in the operation that led to Renee’s death.”
CNN said it had contacted the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and phone numbers listed under Noem’s name for comment.
What the Videos Show
Good had just dropped off her 6-year-old son at school when she encountered ICE agents. Bystanders and Ross recorded video showing her burgundy SUV stopped for a few minutes, perpendicular to a snowy residential street and obstructing traffic. Ross, a 10-year ICE veteran, walked from the front of the vehicle toward the driver’s side without speaking. Good told him, “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” He didn’t respond.
Rebecca Good stood outside the SUV and told Ross to “show your face.” As he walked around it, his masked reflection appeared in the vehicle’s windows. She held up her cellphone, seemingly recording him. She tried to get back into the car but found the door locked. Another officer then told Renee Good to get out of the car.
Renee Good reversed and glanced forward as she turned the steering wheel to the right, the video shows. The vehicle moved forward, Ross cried “whoa,” and three gunshots rang out. A city government news release said someone shot her shortly after 9:30 a.m. Ross’s video captured the gunshots, but not the moment of the shooting.
The Department of Homeland Security later said Good had “weaponized her vehicle” to run over an officer near an ICE vehicle. Other bystander video tells a more complicated story: Ross stood outside the vehicle’s path when he opened fire. The videos show him firing first into the windshield, then at close range through the open driver’s-side window.
The Push for Evidence
State officials have pressed for transparency. In March, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and two state agencies sued the Trump administration to gain access to evidence in the deaths of Good and Alex Pretti, whom DHS agents killed in January. In July, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced that the Department of Justice had given state investigators a trove of materials related to both shootings. No one had filed charges in either case.
Why This Matters: A woman died during a federal immigration operation, and the people closest to her are turning to civil court because criminal charges haven’t followed. The suits ask a judge to examine not only the agent who fired, but also the officials who directed the operation. That’s a question about chain of command and civil rights protections. The Federal Tort Claims Act gives families a path to challenge federal conduct, but that path only works if courts and investigators can reach the evidence. State prosecutors had to sue just to get access to materials in the Good and Pretti cases. Conflicting accounts—from DHS’s statement to the bystander video—show why independent review matters. Whether federal agents answer to the same standards as everyone else is now in a courtroom.