Agent, Noem should be prosecuted under Minnesota murder laws
DOJ policy prohibits shooting people as they flee
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a masked ICE agent shot and killed another person, the 14th ICE shooting under Trump to date.
Flexing Gestapo power in broad daylight, an ICE agent shot a woman at close range as she was driving away from him—not toward him, as officials claim—as confirmed by analysis of footage from three different camera angles.
The shooting officer should be arrested for murder under state law and Kristi Noem should be prosecuted as an accessory to murder as her articles of impeachment are pending. And every American, including those who watch Fox News, OAN, and similar Trump propaganda channels, should watch the video of the shooting and see for themselves how Trump and Noem are lying to them.
What happened
Yesterday was a cold day in Minneapolis. Renee Nicole Good’s car was parked sideways on the street, blocking some but not all lanes of traffic. It isn’t clear whether she parked like that intentionally or slid due sideways due to icy conditions.
Several bystanders captured what came next on video. A team of ICE agents got out of a truck about 20 feet from where Good was parked sideways and rushed to her car as one of them yelled, “Get out of the fucking car.” Other officers made other inaudible statements to Good, presumably directions for what she should do about her car.
One witness has said Good signaled another vehicle to pass her and was preparing to merge into traffic herself when the officers approached. When an ICE agent ran up on Good’s car and grabbed at the door handle, Good put her car in reverse. Then, the officers still shouting, she put it in drive, with the wheels turned away from the officers, and slowly tried to move her car.
As she slowly pulled away, an officer fired three shots at her head at close range. Her car lurched forward, and she died.
Noem and Trump immediately lied about it
Despite the clarity of multiple videos showing this sequence of events exactly as described here, Trump and Kristi Noem immediately went on a lying spree about what transpired. It was vomitous.
Noem officially claimed that Good trying to drive away was “an act of domestic terrorism carried out against ICE agents.” Noem claimed during a press conference that Good was blocking officers with her vehicle, but videos show an open lane the agents could easily have used.
Noem also claimed that Good “weaponized her vehicle and attempted to run a law enforcement officer over” before she was shot. Claiming Good had “attempted to kill or cause bodily harm to an agent,” Noem later embellished her story to say that Good actually “hit” the officer before he shot her. The video makes this lie obvious.
Noem added for good measure that Good had been ‘harassing ICE agents throughout the day’ prior to the shooting, but admitted that the shooting happened in the morning at 10:25 a.m., which makes that claim impossible.
Trump, who’s never met a lie he couldn’t top, took it up a notch.
Within hours of the shooting, before any investigation was completed, Trump posted on Truth Social that Good “viciously ran over” an ICE officer “before he shot her in self-defense.” He further characterized Good as “very disorderly, obstructing and resisting,” and praised the shooting officer. Trump said it was “hard to believe” the officer was still alive, suggesting he’d been mauled, and blamed the whole incident on “radical left violence and hate.”
As horrific as Good’s murder was, Trump and Noem engaging in state brutality and lying about it in an apparent cover-up is even more ominous.
ICE broke federal law
At least 30 people died in ICE custody in 2025, the highest number in decades. Their families and loved ones should sue Noem and DHS, and states need to prosecute DHS agents for murder.
In 1989, the Supreme Court articulated the standard for using lethal force in Graham v Connor. An officer’s decision to use force requires careful attention to the facts and circumstances of each particular case, including the “severity of the crime at issue,” and whether the suspect poses an “immediate threat to the safety of the officer or others.” Here, there was no crime whatsoever except a car parked sideways on an icy street.
Noem claims that the officer who shot Good as she tried to drive away did “exactly” what he was supposed to do, claiming, “Our officer followed his training, did exactly what he’s been taught to do in that situation.” Apparently Noem has never read the DOJ policy manual, which begs to differ.
The DOJ policy manual on deadly force
The Department of Justice policy manual contradicts Noem’s assessment.
DOJ policy prohibits shooting people as they flee. The manual states that, “Deadly force may not be used solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect.” The DOJ’s chapter on the Use of Force, at Title 1-16.000, makes clear that officers cannot shoot people as they’re driving away:
1. Deadly force may not be used solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect.
2. Firearms may not be discharged solely to disable moving vehicles. Specifically, firearms may not be discharged at a moving vehicle unless: (1) a person in the vehicle is threatening the officer or another person with deadly force by means other than the vehicle; or (2) 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.
Christopher Armitage, who wrote Soft Secession vs. Soft Fascism: We Have Options, urges blue states to start prosecuting Trump officials under state law. Armitage is spot on. State prosecutors in Minnesota, and in all states where ICE goons are tackling and brutalizing people on the streets and in their homes, need to prosecute Trump agents for murder and attempted murder. Federal law does not preempt state criminal codes.
As Trump trashes the Constitution and dispenses with the rule of law, blue states are the final bulwark against anarchy. Prosecuting Trump officials is the best remaining tool for protecting democracy and preventing further barbarity.
In the meantime, as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey put it so eloquently, ICE needs to “Get the fuck out of Minneapolis.”
Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.
When Hitler's goons assasinated an opponent they would use the same sort of dehumanizing language to villify the victim and then justify the murder by saying the victim was shot "while trying to escape." Not one of them was ever held to account.
In my own writing I have avoided comparing Trump to Hitler or MAGA to National Socialism, but the parallels are becoming more ominous by the day.
I think that she should be prosecuted.And they should also lock j d vance up and throw away the key.He is making me sick with his rhetoric.And his lying. They are so blatantly lying over things that is you can plainly tell by watching the videos they're lying about everything..I would not be surprised if they do away with the film footage and not allow anybody else to see it, either that or doctor it up j d vance is a sickening, awful man.And he thinks he is the all of it right now.