Renee Good’s family filed two civil lawsuits in Minnesota federal court over her death, naming the United States and senior Trump administration officials. Good, an American woman and mother of three, died after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross shot her in Minneapolis on January 7 during the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Metro Surge. No charges had been filed in the case.
The lawsuits name the state
One suit names the United States of America as its sole defendant under the Federal Tort Claims Act. That law lets people sue the U.S. government for personal injury, property damage or death allegedly caused by federal employees’ negligence while they carry out their job duties.
The second suit alleges, among other things, a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights. It names 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 as defendants. The complaint also names ten John Doe federal agents. The family’s attorneys say the agents had “their respective individual roles in the operation that led to Renee’s death.”
Both cases seek legal remedies through federal court. Their claims remain allegations in the lawsuits. 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. Bystander video and Ross’s video show her burgundy SUV stopped for a few minutes, perpendicular to a snowy residential street in Minneapolis and obstructing traffic.
Ross, a 10-year ICE veteran, walked from the front of the vehicle toward the driver’s side without speaking, according to the video. 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, “show your face.” His masked reflection appeared in the vehicle’s windows as he walked around it. Rebecca Good held up her cellphone, seemingly recording him, and 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 were heard. A city government news release said she was shot shortly after 9:30 a.m.
Ross’s video recorded the gunshots but not the moment of the shooting. Other bystander video shows Ross standing outside the vehicle’s path when he opened fire. The videos show him firing into the windshield first, then shooting at close range through the open driver’s-side window. At the end of Ross’s video, as the SUV moved forward, someone can be heard saying, “fing bh.”
Evidence and accountability
The Department of Homeland Security later said Good had “weaponized her vehicle” to run over an officer near an ICE vehicle. The family filed its lawsuits after a dispute over access to evidence in the shootings of Good and Alex Pretti, whom DHS agents killed in January.
In March, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and two state agencies sued the Trump administration to get access to evidence in both deaths. In July, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced that the Department of Justice had provided state investigators with a trove of materials related to the shootings. No charges had been filed in either case.