Who was Renee Nicole Macklin Good? Mother, poet killed in ice shooting in Minneapolis

Dubai: The woman shot and killed by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during a confrontation in Minneapolis was Renee Nicole Macklin Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, poet and recent arrival to the city, according to Associated Press reporting and her family.

Good, a US citizen born in Colorado, had no known criminal history beyond a traffic ticket, relatives said. She had moved to Minneapolis last year from Kansas City, Missouri, and described herself on social media as “experiencing Minneapolis.”

On Wednesday morning, Good had just dropped off her six-year-old son at school when she and her current partner encountered a group of ICE agents on a snowy street, her ex-husband told AP. What followed was a brief, chaotic encounter that ended with an ICE officer firing multiple shots into the vehicle at close range.

Video posted by bystanders shows officers approaching the SUV, ordering Good to open the door and grabbing the handle. As the vehicle begins to move forward, another officer standing in front pulls his weapon and fires. In a separate video taken moments later, a distraught woman is heard crying near the vehicle, saying, “That’s my wife, I don’t know what to do.”

Trump administration officials later described Good as a domestic terrorist who attempted to ram federal agents. Her ex-husband strongly disputed that account, telling AP that she was not an activist and had never participated in protests.

“She was a devoted Christian,” he said, recalling her involvement in youth mission trips to Northern Ireland when she was younger. “She loved music, loved to sing.”

Good studied creative writing at Old Dominion University, where she won the university’s undergraduate poetry prize in 2020. A brief biography from the school’s English department described her as a writer who spent her free time watching movies and making art. She also co-hosted a podcast with her second husband, who died in 2023.

On social media, Good described herself as a “poet and writer and wife and mom,” often posting about art, tattoos, hairstyles and home décor. One image shows her smiling while holding a young child close to her face.

She is survived by three children — two from her first marriage, now aged 15 and 12, and her youngest son from her second marriage. In recent years, she had primarily been a stay-at-home mother, though she previously worked as a dental assistant and at a credit union.

Her mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the family was notified of Good’s death late Wednesday morning.

“Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” Ganger said. “She was extremely compassionate. She took care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”

The Department of Homeland Security said officers opened fire after being blocked during an immigration enforcement operation. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Good ignored commands to exit the vehicle and attempted to run over an ICE officer, who was later treated at a hospital and released.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz urged caution, saying he had seen video of the incident and warning the public against what he described as a “propaganda machine.”

The FBI and Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are investigating the shooting.