RENEE NICHOLE GOOD
BARN OWL
Below is the post for week #6 of 2026.
RENEE NICHOLE GOOD
The news speeds ahead. If I write more than three weeks ahead on BARN OWL, I find the mood and events have changed. This post was written before the murder of Alex Pretti but after the 30 people had already died in ICE custody in 2025. The facts still hold. In my corner of rural America, There is disagreement over what Renee’s death meant and I wish to define that conflict.
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RENEE NICHOLE GOOD
Renee Nichole Good was a 37-year-old U.S citizen and a mother of three. She was shot and killed by an ICE agent on a Minneapolis street, January 7, 2026. This is what we know for sure.
Video evidence shows that the agent was not “run over” as Donald Trump said. Renee Good was also not a “domestic terrorist” as Kristi Noem claimed. She turned her wheels away from the agent and began to drive forward when the agent fired three shots. Two of the shots went through the driver’s side window. Her car sped down the street, uncontrolled, hit other cars, and stopped. Video taken by the ICE agent shows Good speaking to him just seconds before he shot her.
These are the facts. Yet if you watch TV or read comments on social media, you see very different views of the facts. Here is where the real argument begins. What people think about her death depends on what they already believe.
Some people believe that ICE should be allowed to do its work without being challenged. They believe law enforcement officers should always be obeyed. From this view, Good’s death may be seen as a sad but justified result of people interfering with federal officers. These people may believe that undocumented immigration is a serious problem that needs tough action. They may trust ICE agents’ training and feel their authority should not be questioned. They may believe the explanations given by the Trump administration.
Others see the event very differently. Renee Good and her wife were part of a growing number of people in Minnesota who observe and help their neighbors during ICE actions. If you believe that people have the right to challenge authority when it is wrong, you see her death as unjust. Most people believe non-violent protest is a basic right in the United States. They may disagree with how ICE captures and detains people, whether they are citizens or not. They may worry about ICE agent’s lack of training, their bullying of people in the community, their use of masks and their paramilitary behavior. Some fear that the actions of ICE and other federal agencies are an extreme right wing move to take permanent control of the government.
From this view, what happened on the street was the murder of an innocent, non-violent woman and the result of agents having too much power, too little training and too much anger. These agents were allowed to operate beyond the limit of the law.
How people see this event depends on what they believe about power, protest and justice.
By Ben Boardman and Friends. Paid by gifts from supporters
Now published in Buffalo, Clark and Jackson counties.
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