Renee Nicole Good’s Family Sues The Trump Administration Over Her Murder In Minneapolis
“The time is absolutely now for accountability,” the family says
Photo by Chad Davis on Flickr
Nine months after the life of a 37-year-old loving mother of three was stolen from her family by the Trump administration, those she left behind are finally taking legal action — including a lawsuit against the officer who shot her.
Renee’s partner, Becca Good — who was often referred to as her wife despite the two not being formally married — and brother, Brent Ganger, accused ICE and the federal government of using excessive and unjustified force in the January 7 shooting that claimed her life.
Bystander video of the Minnesota ICE execution immediately went viral, capturing the exact moments the officer in question, Jonathan Ross, fired into Good’s car as she was driving away from officers. Separate body cam footage recorded her final words: “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you.”
Photos of the aftermath were especially difficult to see, with stuffed animals belonging to Good’s children juxtaposed by their mother’s blood.
Despite having clearly been gunned down while peacefully observing law enforcement activities in her local community, the Trump administration had no reservations about immediately labeling her as a “domestic terrorist,” claiming without evidence that she intended to kill Ross and other officers.
Later, Trump even claimed Good had “ran him over.”
In reality, Good was unarmed, had no existing criminal record, and showed no sign of intending to cause any harm to those around her. Most importantly, nobody was in the path of her vehicle at the time of the shooting.
To this day, there has been no apology for her murder or the defamation that followed.
As such, they are finally taking the government to court to set the record straight.
“What happened to Renee was completely senseless,” her brother said. “And the fact that there’s been no accountability, no investigation, no expression of condolence, no change in policy is completely mind-blowing.”
The family has filed two separate lawsuits: one targeting the US government for the “immense suffering” Good endured in the final moments as she was left to die in her car without immediate medical attention, and a second targeting Ross and top administration officials for engaging in a campaign — Operation Metro Surge —designed to intimidate and deprive the rights of Somali immigrants and the local community members, like Good, who stood up to protect them.
“The campaign produced two dead Americans, a third person shot, a fourth dead in Texas detention, and more than $200 million in economic damage to a single city,” the second lawsuit reads. “Renee was one [of] those casualties. She was doing what thousands of her neighbors were doing that winter: watching masked, armed men terrorizing her community and refusing to look away.”
Within weeks of Good’s murder, ICE agents executed another bystander in Minneapolis under all-too-familiar circumstances. On January 24, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs, was pushed to the ground and shot in the back after he had been peacefully observing federal officers with a camera in hand.
His family is also demanding justice.
Trump’s ICE is out of control — instead of keeping us safe, this administration is using masked men, paid for by taxpayers, to terrorize immigrants and American citizens alike. These murders weren’t a mistake; they were by design.
With an election right around the corner, it’s time for us to get ICE off our streets and end this horrible abuse of power.
This November, we can help out the families of Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, and all of those whose lives have been taken from us by electing a Congress willing and capable of holding this lawless administration to account.
In particular, Minnesota’s Democratic lieutenant governor and nominee for US Senate, Peggy Flanagan, has vowed to take action on behalf of her slain constituents if elected to Washington, being one of the first public officials to speak out about the tragedy of Good’s loss.
“First of all, I would say that Renee Nicole Good should be alive,” Flanagan told reporters the day of the shooting. “The fact that they’re trying to spin this story is, frankly, disgusting.”
While we might not be able to bring Renee or Alex back, what happened to them is unforgivable, and we mustn’t stop fighting until justice is delivered once and for all.
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