Scrutinizing a tragic shooting in Minneapolis

Flanked by a McDonald’s and a Capital One Bank, protesters gathered at the intersections of 14th and U Street NW in Washington, D.C., Thursday night. Earlier that day, organizers circulated a digital flyer for the event: “From DC to Minneapolis Stop ICE Terror.”

On the street, protesters held up signs reading “Justice for Renee Good,” “[obscenity] ICE,” or simply “MURDERERS.” 

Mark Smith, toting a bullhorn in one hand and a tiny dog in the other, told me he was angered over the death of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the officer shot and killed Good in defense of himself and other officers when she allegedly tried to run him over with her vehicle. But the protesters on the street took a different view.

“Some lady died, and an innocent mother just got killed. … If someone cold-cocked your mom, you’re gonna be angry,” Smith said. “What if it was your mother, your sister, your aunt, your grandma?”

Amy Markowitz, who carried a sign telling observers to “Stop Trump’s Gestapo,” called Good’s killing an “execution.”

The protests in D.C. mirrored similar demonstrations across the country following Good’s death. While protesters voiced anger, frustration, and grief, DHS officials strongly defended the ICE agent’s actions as justified, calling Good one of several “violent rioters” who were attempting to block ICE vehicles. Trump officials claimed Good “weaponized her vehicle.” 

Several brief videos of the incident have circulated online, and many observers claim they show she was simply trying to drive away. Yet legal experts say the situation is complicated and the footage leaves many questions unanswered. An investigation will need to answer key questions about Good’s behavior, her possible motivations, and why the officer acted in the manner that he did.

“I didn’t see anything, really, in that clip, that told me there’s a good self-defense defense [for the officer to make],” said retired U.S. Navy Capt. David Iglesias, a professor at Wheaton College, a former military attorney, and a former federal prosecutor with a specialty in police brutality cases. “But remember, I only had that same 10 seconds that the rest of the country saw. I’d like to get a longer clip.”

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1989 decision in Graham v. Connor, American courts are hesitant to bring too much “20-20 hindsight” to police officers’ uses of force, Iglesias noted. 

“The courts don’t want to second-guess police officers because they understand that things happen very quickly,” he said. “But having said that, it’s hard to place yourself in the police officers’ shoes.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that, in June, the same ICE agent who fired on Good was dragged more than 300 feet by an illegal immigrant driving a vehicle. That incident, which also occurred in the Minneapolis area, left him with injuries requiring at least 20 stitches.

Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and federal prosecutor who works at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the perspective of the officer involved—whether he reasonably feared for his safety—carries a lot of weight in determining how courts deal with an incident.

“The real question becomes what the officer who fired the weapon concluded at the time that it happened,” Arthur said. He said incidents involving the use of vehicles to impede ICE enforcement have become more common in recent months. With ICE agents wary of aggression by groups of protesters, he said, “there’s definitely a heightened posture with respect to attacks.” 

Iglesias from Wheaton said it will be helpful to learn the larger context of what Good was doing at the scene of the shooting, and her intentions during the incident. “Why did she want to leave? And why didn’t she just obey what the officer wanted her to do?” Iglesias asked.

Tricia McLaughlin from DHS told media that Good had been “stalking” DHS agents throughout the day. But Good’s ex-husband, who remained anonymous to protect the privacy of their children, told reporters he had never known her to be an activist or participate in protests of any kind. He told the Associated Press that Good was on her way home after dropping her child off at school.

Footage obtained by CNN has circulated on social media that reportedly shows Good’s vehicle sitting in traffic for three minutes before the shooting. Other footage shows Good seemingly making a “K-turn” with her vehicle and shows her calmly talking to agents before one agent approaches and demands that she exit her car. Another woman standing outside the vehicle’s passenger door then yells, “Drive, baby, drive!” As Good steps on the accelerator, an agent standing near her front bumper appears to fire several shots. Her car then careens down the street toward a utility pole, and a male voice off camera refers to her with an expletive.

The clips don’t explicitly show whether the agent who fired the rounds at Good was hit by the vehicle, although Trump administration officials said he was injured in the incident.

A major question is whether Good intended to strike or frighten the ICE agent with her vehicle as she drove forward, or whether she was merely trying to avoid a confrontation or potential arrest. Department of Justice policy does not allow a federal law enforcement officer to use deadly force solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect. The policy also prohibits firing at a moving vehicle unless “the vehicle is operated in a manner that threatens to cause death or serious physical injury to the officer or others, and no other objectively reasonable means of defense appear to exist, which includes moving out of the path of the vehicle.”

Policies typically don’t allow a police officer to “create a dangerous situation for himself and then shoot his way out,” Iglesias noted. Asked whether that happened in this situation, he said, “Possibly. And that’s the first thing I thought of when I saw the clip, saying, ‘Did he create this dangerous situation in which he felt like he had to use deadly force, yes or no?’ Because if the answer’s ‘yes,’ then this is going to get settled out of court.” 

Ultimately, it will take an investigation to determine whether the officer’s actions were right or wrong. 

“As I understand it, [the] FBI is currently conducting such an operation. I would hope and anticipate that the results of that operation will be made public,” Arthur said. Until the results come out, he added, it’s difficult to say from a legal perspective whether the use of force was proportionate to the officer’s fear. 

Iglesias urged Americans viewing the footage to avoid jumping to conclusions. “We need more answers to the questions we have,” he said. “So don’t rush to any judgment.”