Renee Good’s family filed two civil lawsuits in Minnesota federal court on Thursday over her death during the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Metro Surge. One names the United States as the sole defendant; the other names federal officials, immigration enforcement agents and private actors, and alleges, among other things, a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights.
Two lawsuits, different defendants
The first suit proceeds under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which lets people sue the U.S. government for personal injury, property damage or death allegedly caused by federal employees’ negligence while they perform their job duties. The United States of America is its only defendant.
The second lawsuit names Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot Good, along with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and White House border czar Tom Homan. It also names other Trump administration figures.
The complaint identifies ten John Doe federal agents, saying they had “their respective individual roles in the operation that led to Renee’s death,” according to the family’s attorneys. The allegations haven't led to charges in the case. The article reports that no charges had been filed in either Good’s death or the shooting of Alex Pretti.
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, an American woman and mother of three, was fatally shot in Minneapolis on January 7. She had just dropped 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, the video shows. Good told him, “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” He didn't answer.
Rebecca Good stood outside the SUV and told Ross, “show your face.” His masked reflection appeared in the vehicle’s windows as he walked around it. Holding up her cellphone, seemingly recording him, Rebecca Good said, “You wanna come at us? You wanna come at us? I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy.” She tried to get back into the car but found the door locked. Another officer then told Renee Good to “get out of the f***ing car.”
Video shows Renee Good reversing and glancing forward as she turned the steering wheel to the right. The vehicle moved forward, Ross cried “whoa,” and three gunshots rang out. A city government news release said the shooting happened shortly after 9:30 a.m. Ross’s video captured the gunshots, but not the moment of the shooting. Other bystander video shows Ross outside the vehicle’s path when he opened fire. Videos show him firing first into the windshield, then at close range through the open driver’s-side window. At the end of Ross’s video, someone can be heard saying, “fing bh.”
Evidence in the two shootings
The Department of Homeland Security later said Good had “weaponized her vehicle” to run over an officer near an ICE vehicle. In March, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and two state agencies sued the Trump administration for 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 provided state investigators with a trove of materials related to both shootings. The family’s two suits now seek civil remedies over Good’s death. No charges had been filed in either case.