before renee goode shot to death The 37-year-old mother of three was driven by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent as she dropped her youngest child at an elementary school in Minneapolis, the newest city she calls home.
Although Trump administration officials on Thursday continued to paint Goode as a domestic terrorist who tried to ram federal agents with her Honda The pilot, her family, friends and neighbors expressed their condolences for a woman they remembered as gentle, kind and open-hearted.
Well, her 6-year-old son and his wife had recently moved to Minneapolis from Kansas City, Missouri. The family settled on a quiet residential street of old houses and multi-family homes, some with pride flags on their front porches and still flashing holiday lights. A day after her death, neighbors were tired of talking to reporters. A handwritten sign taped to a front door read “No media inquiries” and “Justice for Renee.”
Far from being the worst criminal targeted in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, Goode is a Colorado-born U.S. citizen who has apparently never been charged with anything other than a traffic ticket.
In her social media accounts, she describes herself as a “poet, writer, wife and mother.” She said she was currently “experiencing Minneapolis” and showed a proud emoji on her Instagram account. Profile photo posted to interest In the photo, she is smiling and holding a small child on her cheek, while also posting about tattoos, hairstyles and home decor.
Her ex-husband, who asked not to be named out of concern for their children’s safety, said Goode was not an activist and he was never aware of her participating in any kind of protest. He said she was on her way home before encountering a group of ICE agents on the snowy streets.
State and local officials and protesters have rejected the Trump administration’s characterization of the shooting, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saying the video recording showed the self-defense argument was “garbage.”
Video captured by a bystander and posted to social media shows an officer approaching her car, asking her to open the door and grab the handle. As she began to drive forward, another ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle drew his weapon and immediately fired at least two shots at close range into the vehicle.
The whole incident was over in less than 10 seconds.
In another video taken immediately after shootingIn the video, a distraught woman is seen sitting next to a car crying: “That’s my wife, I don’t know what to do!”
Calls and messages to Goode’s wife were not returned.
On Thursday, dozens of people gathered on the one-way street where Goode was killed, blocking the road with steel drums filled with burning wood for warmth and seeking shelter from a torrential downpour. Passers-by stopped to pay their respects at the makeshift memorial, which was decorated with flowers and handmade crosses.
Goode was a devout Christian who participated in a youth mission trip to Northern Ireland when she was young, her ex-husband said. She loved singing and participated in choir in high school and studied vocal performance in college.
She studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Virginia and won an award for one of her pieces in 2020, according to a post on the school’s English department Facebook page. She also hosted a podcast with her second husband, who passed away in 2023.
Kent Wascom, who teaches Goode in Old Dominion’s creative writing program, recalled her juggling work and school in 2019 with the birth of her child. He described her as “very caring for her peers.”
“What struck me about her prose was that, unlike many young fiction writers, her focus was on the outside rather than the inside,” Wascomb said. “Creative writing workshops can be a cutthroat place filled with egos and competition, but her presence helps make the classroom a truly supportive place.”
Goode has a daughter and a son from his first marriage, now aged 15 and 12 respectively. Her 6-year-old son is from her second marriage.
Her ex-husband said she had been primarily a stay-at-home mom in recent years but had previously worked as a dental assistant and at a credit union.
Her mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that her family was notified of the death late Wednesday morning. She did not return calls or messages from The Associated Press.
“Renee is one of the kindest people I know,” Ganger told the newspaper. “She was very compassionate. She spent her whole life taking care of people. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing person.”
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Bizek reported from Washington, and Mustian reported from New York. Associated Press writer Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Mo., contributed.