Why the Minneapolis ICE Shooting Became National News — And Why It Shouldn’t Have
A factual look at the January 7, 2026, ICE officer-involved shooting and its media escalation
There is no rational reason why this officer-involved fatal shooting in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026, was destined from the echo of the first shot to be instant international news. In most American media markets, this case would remain a tragic and avoidable event. The cause would be assumed to be attributed to critically unwise choices by the deceased. Unless there was some local interest, it would be unlikely to bleed to another market.
Choosing to threaten armed law enforcement officers, weaponizing your vehicle and attempting to harm or kill, significantly ratchets up the statistical probability of being shot and killed in an officer involved shooting. It’s not rocket science. As one of my friends quotes John Wayne: “If you’re going to be dumb, you’ve gotta be tough.”
How Political Timing Turned a Local Shooting into National News
This, like so many other cases that rise to international attention, has little or nothing to do with the facts of the case. There is nothing exceptional about this case on its own merits. It is just a normal and logical cause and effect narrative. There may be a behavioral health component on the part of the driver.
A day prior, January 6, 2026, PBS reported “The Trump administration has launched what officials describe as the largest federal immigration enforcement operation ever carried out, preparing to deploy as many as 2,000 federal agents and officers to the Minneapolis area for a sweeping crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.”
This provoked outrage from Governor Tim Walz (a day after announcing that due to being immersed and implicated in a massive fraud scandal on his watch that he would not run for re-election) called this initiative to expel illegal aliens “a war that’s being waged against Minnesota.”
On January 7, 2026, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent opened fire on the driver of a sport utility vehicle that was deliberately accelerating toward him. The female driver, Renee Good, had been using her vehicle to intentionally block and disrupt ICE vehicles.
These are the facts: As her vehicle is approached by agents and is told to get out of the vehicle, she reverses the vehicle. An agent is in front of the protester Good’s vehicle as it is traveling backwards, when suddenly she engages forward drive. Her vehicle struck the agent, but there is video evidence that when the driver shifted into forward drive (the backup lights turned off) the agent who is now suddenly in harm’s way, was still holstered. The three shots were fired 0.5 to 0.75 seconds later striking the driver in the face according to on-site witness testimony and several angles of video.
Yet, despite widely shared video, media outlets are publishing amazing non-sensical statements like: “A third officer with his gun drawn crosses in front of the car as it moves away from the agents. That officer, who appears to be knocked backward but not hit, opens fire on the vehicle.” That, objectively, didn’t happen.
How Media Language Rewrites Reality in Officer-Involved Shootings
The land of 10,000 lakes has earned a reputation of a topsy-turvy Alice in Wonderland style of leadership and justice. The media bias is unsustainable. CNN shares this message in their coverage of the ICE officer involved shooting by interjecting this:
“Remember: The day after Christmas, a 23-year-old conservative content creator claimed in a video posted to YouTube, with little evidence, that Somali-run child care centers in Minnesota were fraudulently taking funding meant to provide child care for low-income families. The video, boosted by Vice President JD Vance and tech billionaire Elon Musk, quickly racked up millions of views.”
They were describing the citizen journalism of Nick Shirley who did not break the story of the daycare fraud in Minneapolis but travelled to Minnesota to see for himself. The fraud had been taking place prolifically, but Shirley’s work only demonstrated the fearless conduct of the criminals and indicated the corruption of state daycare licensing.
Wikipedia has euphemized Good as the ‘driver waving people around her car’ and the Associated Press describes her as ‘motorist’ while CNN repeatedly uses phrasing of ‘woman’ or ’37-year-old woman.’ Many sources are intentionally sowing deception evoking the idea that she is just there having car trouble. During her vigil, on January 7, 2026, other voices in the Star-Tribune reveal her true purpose on Portland Avenue between 33rd and 34th streets:
Speakers at an evening vigil disclosed few details of Good’s life, but were resolute in honoring her as a good neighbor who was protecting others. “She was peaceful, she did the right thing,” said Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of CAIR-MN.
“She died because she loved her neighbors.”
A speaker who only identified himself as Noah, rejected Kristi Noem’s portrayal of Good as a domestic terrorist and said instead that Good was present on Portland Avenue on Wednesday “to watch the terrorists.”
CNN also reported: A woman with blood covering her face sat in the yard of Minneapolis resident Tyrice Jones’ home following the fatal ICE shooting of a woman this morning, Jones said, and was heard shouting, “You guys just killed my wife!”
Jones said he walked outside his home after hearing gunshots followed by a loud bang when he saw the woman, who he told to call “her people.” She replied, “We have nobody out here. We’re from out of town.”
Good is survived by a six-year-old orphan.
Leadership Failure at Every Level: City, State, and Media
This is the result of failed and even seditious leadership in both the City of Minneapolis and the State of Minnesota.
Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, a master of performative politics, weighed in with a profane press conference blaming Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the escalation that he and others created. Chief Brian O’Hara discusses live on CNN the hazards of ICE enforcement (of criminal illegal aliens) in his city and the danger to his officers being injected into these situations.
State Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is well within the vortex of the state welfare, healthcare, and childcare corruption scandal was quick to blame the actions of Good on the ICE agent she tried to kill.
Governor Walz, another recurring character in all of the scandals that have shaped the past five years, held a press conference at the state EOC claiming Federal DHS agents were coming into his state without coordination with state and local officials. Secretary Noem, who formerly was a neighboring governor concurrent with his terms called him out sharing that state and locals, like sanctuary city Chief O’Hara are the ones who won’t coordinate with federal assistance unless it is something they want.
Media bias has hit a new low of shamelessness during this day of unnecessary loss. The press used to support the objective truth. We were promised that if there was video of incidents, we could come to agreement but that hasn’t come true. We didn’t even have body worn camera (BWC) but still have four or five video angles so far, with likely more to come.
It is sad that a protester made the unwise choices to interfere with federal agents doing their job. The ICE Agents, themselves United States citizens, are sworn officers charged with the mission of criminally processing illegal aliens within our sovereign borders.
If this is the pattern continuing that we have seen since the George Floyd riots five years ago, or nine years ago with Philando Castile, we will see the safety of the people of Minnesota continue to deteriorate to third world standards.
Please keep all law enforcement officers in your prayers.
Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.
His work is frequently featured on LawOfficer.com, the only law enforcement owned major media presence in the public safety realm.
For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS
References
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/livestory/ice-shooting-minneapolis-live-updates-9.7036845
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-we-know-so-far-about-the-ice-shooting-in-minneapolis
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/minnesota-fraud-state-reps-testify-01-07-26
Megan Kocher posted on social media that “I met Renee and her wife just a few weeks ago. She fed me tea and cookies at her house while we talked about school stuff.”
https://apnews.com/live/minneapolis-ice-shooting-updates
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis motorist on Wednesday — a shooting that federal officials claimed was an act of self-defense but that the city’s mayor described as “reckless” and unnecessary.
In social media accounts, Macklin Good described herself as a “Poet and writer and wife and mom” who was from Colorado and currently “experiencing Minneapolis,” and displayed a pride flag emoji.
https://apnews.com/live/minneapolis-ice-shooting-updates#0000019b-9ae6-dc77-a1bb-deeebf9b0000
In a video from the scene of the shooting posted to social media, a distraught woman is seen sitting near the vehicle crying, describing Macklin Good as her spouse and that they had a 6-year-old child.
“That’s my wife, I don’t know what to do!” wailed the woman, who wasn’t identified.
Bravo! Thank goodness for Roland Clee — clearheaded, with a lifetime of experience & perspective. We are lucky to have him. Pray that we all resist indulging the gaslighters. Where was this leftwing outrage when Capitol Police shot Ashli Babbitt to death on Jan 6? Rosanne Boyland, another Jan 6 protestor. also died that day. Official sources said it was an overdose but her family insists she was trampled to death after a police officer pushed Boyland into the crowd. The Left’s media machine spun George Floyd into an innocent martyr. We mustn’t let them to so again to this crazed agitator intent on harming ICE as gents doing their jobs.
Update from the New York Post: https://nypost.com/2026/01/08/us-news/renee-nicole-good-was-minneapolis-ice-watch-warrior-who-trained-to-resist-feds-before-shooting/