Protesters clash with federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on January 8, 2026. Photo / Octavio Jones, AFP
Protesters clash with federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on January 8, 2026. Photo / Octavio Jones, AFP
The White House has said that US law enforcement was under “organised attack” as protesters clashed with officers in Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of a woman by an immigration agent.
Victim Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot in the head as she apparently tried to drive away from agentsapproaching her car, which they said blocked their way.
Vice-President JD Vance said, without providing evidence, that she was part of a “broader left-wing network” opposed to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, and he insisted the officer acted in “self-defence”.
Federal immigration officers armed with pepperball guns and tear gas wrestled several protesters to the ground on Thursday (local time), as large, noisy crowds gathered around Minneapolis to chant slogans against ICE. More protests are planned.
Footage from Wednesday shows a masked agent attempt to open Good’s car door before another officer, standing near the front bumper, fired three times into the Honda SUV.
The vehicle veered into parked cars, as horrified onlookers hurled abuse at the federal officers before her bloodied body appeared slumped at the wheel.
The victim of the shooting has been identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good. Photo / Charly Triballeau, AFP
“I want to see nobody get shot. I want to see nobody screaming and trying to run over policemen either,” Trump told the New York Times.
Witness Tyrice told US media he heard “three gunshots and then I hear a car crash”.
“I see this lady hugging the victim,” he said.
“There’s blood all in the snow in front of our house. I could see a lady in the car...You could see the wounds and everything, like a whole bunch of blood.”
Good, a US citizen, was not the target of immigration enforcement action and was only suspected of blocking traffic, police said.
Vance alleged on Thursday Good was “part of a broader left-wing network to attack, to doxx, to assault and to make it impossible for our ICE officers to do their job”.
This is preposterous.
First of all, she's not waving the officers through and has no right to do so even if she were. She is waving another car through, before the officers approach her car.
Second, the officers are not randomly searching her, they are approaching her vehicle… https://t.co/2PnvK8KOCE
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said “law enforcement are under organised attack”.
Immigrant deportations
Protests grew after Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Walz called it a “patriotic duty” to demonstrate.
On Thursday he said Minnesota must participate in the shooting probe alongside federal investigators – otherwise Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “is judge, jury and basically executioner”.
But Vance suggested the officer would be cleared by a federal probe that would exclude state-level officials.
“The idea that this was not justified is absurd,” he said.
Minneapolis schools were closed on Thursday and Friday in anticipation of unrest.
ICE is at the forefront of Trump’s immigrant deportation drive, carrying out raids despite local opposition.
Wednesday’s incident came during protests over immigration enforcement in southern Minneapolis, where locals are expressing widespread anger over Trump’s vow to arrest and deport “millions” of undocumented people.
People gather at a makeshift memorial for 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, who was shot and killed at point blank range on January 7 by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. Photo / Charly Triballeau, AFP
The victim’s mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune her daughter “was probably terrified” and “not part” of anti-ICE activity.
Good was a poet who studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, US media reported.
