Minnesota’s investigations agency said Thursday that the U.S. attorney’s office has prevented it from taking part in the investigation into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer’s fatal shooting of Minneapolis woman Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three.
“The investigation would now be led solely by the FBI, and the BCA would no longer have access to the case materials, scene evidence or investigative interviews necessary to complete a thorough and independent investigation,” Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said in a statement.
It had been decided that the BCA would investigate Good’s shooting death along with the FBI, but the U.S. attorney’s office changed that, according to Evans.
The announcement came as protestors and law enforcement clashed Thursday morning outside a Minneapolis immigration court, with the governor urging restraint and schools canceling classes as a precaution. Asked about the development, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that Minnesota authorities “don’t have any jurisdiction in this investigation.”
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The Department of Homeland Security described the vehicle’s passenger as “a Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring” who had been involved in a recent shooting in Portland.
When U.S. Border Patrol agents identified themselves to the vehicle occupants, the driver tried to run them over, the department said in a written statement.
“Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot,” the statement said. “The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene.”
There was no immediate independent corroboration of those events or any gang affiliation of the vehicle’s occupants. During prior shootings involving agents involved in Trump’s surge of immigration enforcement in U.S. cities, including Wednesday’s shooting in Minneapolis, video evidence cast doubt on the administration’s initial descriptions of what prompted the shootings.
Portland City Councilor Jamie Dunphy said in an interview with local NBC station KGW8 that the shooting on Thursday afternoon indicated “a pattern that is starting to emerge” and accused the federal government of “trying to escalate across the nation.”
He also said that he expected Portland residents would protest the shooting.
“We’re going to let our voices be known that this is not the kind of acceptable behavior from the federal government that Portlanders expect. This is tyranny,” Dunphy said.
At 2:18 p.m., Portland police initially responded to a report of a shooting where federal agents were involved. The location appeared to be near a hospital, according to a map released by police.
A few minutes later, police received information that a man who had been shot was asking for help in a different area a couple miles away. Officers then responded there and found the two people with apparent gunshot wounds. Officers determined they were injured in the shooting with federal agents, police said.
Portland police have secured both scenes pending investigation.
“We are still in the early stages of this incident,” Portland Police Chief Bob Day said. “We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis, but I am asking the community to remain calm as we work to learn more.”
“We stand united as elected officials in saying that we cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts,” reads a joint statement from Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and the city council. “Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences.”
The city officials said “federal militarization undermines effective, community‑based public safety, and it runs counter to the values that define our region. We’ll use every legal and legislative tool available to protect our residents’ civil and human rights.”
They urged residents to show up with “calm and purpose during this difficult time.”
“We response with clarity, unity, and a commitment to justice,” the statement said. “We must stand together to protect Portland.”
The FBI’s Portland office says it is investigating a shooting that happened around 2:15 p.m. Thursday “involving Customs and Border Patrol Agents in which 2 individuals were wounded.”
The Portland Police Bureau said its officers responded and found a man and woman with apparent gunshot wounds. They were transported to a hospital and their conditions are unknown, the bureau said in a statement.
The Department of Homeland Security’s agencies include Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Border Patrol.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared to defend the immigration officer’s decision to shoot Renee Good on social media Thursday evening, after The Associated Press reported that federal agencies would handle the investigation into the fatal shooting — barring state investigators from access to evidence.
“The law does not require police to gamble with their lives in the face of a serious threat of harm,” Blanche wrote on X. “Rather, they may use deadly force when they face an immediate threat of significant physical harm.”
He said that the investigation would follow “standard protocols” and “ensure that evidence is collected and preserved.”
Gov. Tim Walz authorized the Guard to get staged and ready to support local and state law enforcement to protect critical infrastructure and maintain public safety, should that become necessary. He signed the orders a day after directing the Guard to start making initial preparations.
In a statement, Walz noted that thousands of people had taken part in peaceful protests and added, “We have every reason to believe that peace will hold.”
The statement also said the Minnesota State Patrol has mobilized 85 state troopers to help support law enforcement efforts in the Twin Cities.
President Donald Trump and other Republicans have been critical of Walz’s handling of the sometimes violent unrest following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, saying Walz should have deployed the National Guard sooner. Walz’s defenders have said he did an exemplary job under unprecedented circumstances.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Thursday he’s dismayed that the FBI and Justice Department have blocked the state out of the investigation.
“Is it problematic? Absolutely. Am I concerned about this development? Of course, I am,” Frey said in an interview with The Associated Press.
“We want to make sure that there is a check on this administration to ensure that this investigation is done for justice, not for the sake of a cover up.”
Minneapolis City Councilman Jason Chavez says Thursday that the federal government was trying to demonize the city’s immigrant community. Chavez represents the neighborhood where Renee Good was fatally shot Wednesday by an ICE agent.
“What the federal government is trying to do is tear our community apart and split our community members apart as well,” Chavez said during a news conference.
“What we need from the community right now is to continue to patrol our neighborhoods, continue to observe the illegal actions by the federal government,” Chavez added. “We just need folks to rise up in Minneapolis.”
The chief prosecutor for the county that includes Minneapolis said she’s not giving up, even though the Trump administration has frozen the state out of the investigation into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer’s fatal shooting of Minneapolis woman.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said her office is “exploring all options to ensure a state level investigation can continue” and that they’re “speaking to our local partners on paths forward.”
Moriarty issued her statement after the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said the U.S. attorney’s office has prevented it from taking part in the investigation.
Gov. Tim Walz criticized the federal decision earlier Thursday, saying it’s hard to see how there will be a fair outcome to the investigation without state participation.
Federal court documents show the agent who shot Good was seriously injured in a prior incident in June in which he used force against the driver of another moving vehicle in Bloomington, Minnesota.
The agent got his arm stuck in the window of a vehicle of a driver who was fleeing arrest on an immigration violation, and was dragged roughly 100 yards down a street before he was knocked free. During the incident, the agent fired his Taser and prongs struck the driver but did not incapacitate him, according to prosecutors.
The driver later claimed he did not know the man trying to stop him was a federal agent. A jury rejected that argument last month and found the driver guilty of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous or deadly weapon.
Vance says the ICE officer “deserves a debt of gratitude,” citing an earlier incident in which he was injured by a moving vehicle.
“This is a guy who’s actually done a very, very important job for the United States of America,” Vance said. “He’s been assaulted. He’s been attacked. He’s been injured because of it.”
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday that the officer who shot Good had been “dragged” by a vehicle during a previous incident in June.
According to court documents, the officer was part of a team trying to apprehend a man in the country illegally. He broke a window and reached into the vehicle, attempting to open the door when the driver sped off, dragging the officer the length of a football field in 12 seconds.
The officer’s right arm was bleeding, and an FBI agent applied a tourniquet. Eventually, he was transported to a hospital, where he received more than 50 stitches. Prosecutors said he had “suffered multiple large cuts, and abrasions to his knee, elbow, and face.”
Vance says the ICE officer was clearly justified in shooting Good and he’s not worried about prejudging an investigation that is just getting underway.
“What you see is what you get in this case,” Vance said in the White House press briefing room, downplaying ambiguity about the circumstances that led to the shooting.
The officer was clearly acting in self-defense, Vance said. He framed Good as “a victim of left-wing ideology” who was spurred by an alleged network of politically motivated groups to interfere with law enforcement.
“I can believe that her death is a tragedy while also recognizing that it is a tragedy of her own making,” Vance said.
Bernice King, who leads the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, said politicians and protestors must be intentional after an ICE agent’s killing 37-year-old Renee Good.
“We in this nation have got to find a way to change the climate of things,” she told reporters in Atlanta. Asked about Trump blaming Good, King noted differing conclusions from video of the incident and said “we need leaders to speak to the difficulty in these moments.”
King said she has watched video and believes Good was trying to leave and not escalate the situation.
“Why did she have to be a victim?” King asked.
She said “protest is essential” in a free society. But, citing lessons from her father and the Civil Rights Movement, King urged protestors to be “thoughtful about the process” and have a “strategy to elevate” the issues at stake.
“It’s not easy,” she said.
Appearing in the White House briefing room, the vice president’s voice rose as he decried what he called the “corporate media” for its coverage of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer having shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis.
“This was an attack on law and order. This was an attack on the American people,” said Vance, who maintained it has not been portrayed that way by many journalists.
“The way that the media, by and large, has reported this story has been an absolute disgrace,” he added. “And it puts our law enforcement officers at risk every single day.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz criticized the Trump administration Thursday for freezing Minnesota out of the investigation into the fatal shooting in Minneapolis of a woman by a federal officer.
“It feels very, very difficult that we will get a fair outcome,” Walz said at a briefing for reporters. “And I say that only because people in positions of power have already passed judgment, from the president to the vice president to (Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate.”
Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said he’d welcome the chance to get his agents back involved in the search for answers.
“For us to be able to do that, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, without cooperation from the federal government,” Jacobson said.
Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ’s effort, dubbed The ICE Accountability Project, allows users to upload photos and descriptions of incidents, including the use of chemical agents.
She says it will help identify officers, most of whom wear masks.
“We aim to preserve evidence, to facilitate transparent accountability,” she said.
It’s the latest effort of its kind. Illinois launched a commission last year to document incidents, while California has an online portal to file complaints.
The racial and economic justice organization also is calling for a “full and transparent investigation” into Good’s killing.
“For more than 50 years, law enforcement policy has explicitly prohibited shooting at moving vehicles—a principle established in 1972 and widely recognized as best practice,” reads a joint statement from National Urban League President Marc Morial and Urban League Twin Cities President Marquita Stephens.
“ICE agents’ decision to ignore this standard represents a dangerous and unacceptable escalation of force, rooted in outdated and reckless tactics,” the statement continued.
In an unrelated news conference in New York, she said that while there would be an investigation into the officer’s use of force, she believed he followed his training and the shooting was justified. She again called the incident “domestic terrorism.”
“This vehicle was used to hit this officer,” Noem said. “It was used as a weapon, and the officer feels as though his life was in jeopardy. It was used to perpetuate a violent act, and this officer took action to protect himself and to protect his fellow law enforcement officers.
Noem also said that law enforcement authorities in Minnesota have not been shut out of the probe into the shooting.
“They don’t have any jurisdiction in this investigation,” she said.
— When can officers fire at a moving vehicle? There is no universal training standard for law enforcement. But most police departments and federal guidance bar shooting at a moving vehicle unless the driver poses an imminent threat of deadly force beyond the car itself.
— Why are shootings at vehicles restricted? Experts say firing at a moving car is one of the riskiest forms of lethal force, increasing the chance of stray gunfire or a loss of vehicle control that can endanger bystanders.
— Are officers expected to move out of the way? Yes. Justice Department policy says deadly force is allowed only when no reasonable alternative exists, including stepping out of the vehicle’s path.
▶ Read more about regulations on using deadly force in these situations
Outraged by Good’s death, Democratic leaders in Congress pledged to conduct strong oversight of what happened in Minneapolis, but stopped short Thursday of immediate calls to defund ICE or impeach Noem.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the killing of Good an “abomination, a disgrace.”
“We all are outraged by what took place in Minneapolis, and we will respond decisively,” said Jeffries of New York. “Blood is clearly on the hands of those individuals within the administration that have been pushing an extreme policy,” he said.
“We support the removal of violent felons in this country who are here illegally — but that’s not what this administration has been doing,” he added.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said he watched the video and “you felt like your stomach was being punched.”
Schumer said senators are discussing next steps as they consider funding in the annual Homeland Security bill, and he demanded a “full investigation.”
The head of Minnesota’s state investigations agency says the U.S. attorney’s office has cut off its access in the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE agent.
“The investigation would now be led solely by the FBI, and the BCA would no longer have access to the case materials, scene evidence or investigative interviews necessary to complete a thorough and independent investigation,” Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said in a statement.
It had been decided that the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension would investigate Good’s shooting death along with the FBI, but that later was changed by the U.S. Attorney’s office, according to Evans.
The BCA “has reluctantly withdrawn from the investigation,” Evans wrote.
Beyond Minneapolis, citizens also took to the streets or were expected to do so in New York City, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago.
Protests are also scheduled in smaller cities later this week in Arizona, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.
Renee Nicole Macklin Good was a 37-year-old mother of three who had recently moved to Minnesota.
She was a U.S. citizen born in Colorado and appears to never have been charged with anything involving law enforcement beyond a traffic ticket.
In social media accounts, Macklin Good described herself as a “poet and writer and wife and mom.” She said she was currently “experiencing Minneapolis,” displaying a pride flag emoji on her Instagram account. A profile picture posted to Pinterest shows her smiling and holding a young child against her cheek, along with posts about tattoos, hairstyles and home decorating.
▶ Read more about who Macklin Good was
The fatal shooting of a woman by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday has thrust a long-running and deeply contested question back into the national spotlight: When is a law enforcement officer justified in using lethal force against someone in a moving vehicle?
At the center of the debate are policies that for years have limited when officers may fire at vehicles, generally barring gunfire at fleeing cars unless the driver poses an imminent threat of deadly force beyond the vehicle itself. Those restrictions, embraced by many police departments and reflected in federal guidance, were intended to curb what experts long warned was among the most dangerous and unpredictable uses of lethal force.
▶ Read more about why police agencies moved to restrict shootings at moving vehicles
Patrick Riley was one of the people who came out Thursday morning at the federal building to express outrage after the death of Macklin Good on Wednesday.
“We are peacefully demonstrating. We’re trying to let this organization know that they’re not welcome,” said Riley.
Riley questioned why the Trump administration had made the Minneapolis area such a high priority.
“Why this big flood here now? This is our place. This is our country. This is our freedom to protest,” Riley added.
Police at one point threw devices releasing smoke to break up the crowd, which carried signs and shouted profanities at them.
The crowd was directed farther away from the entrance as the protest reached the two-hour mark on Thursday.
In a post on the Facebook pages of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians tribal council and the tribe’s embassy in Minneapolis, the council said tribal citizens should expect ICE agents to detain and harm them.
“We all need to be careful, and we must assume that ICE will not protect us,” the post stated. “We realize that we will not receive compassionate treatment by anyone associated with the Trump administration.”
In the warning to citizens, the tribal council said it sees the “obvious purpose of ICE is to terrorize Americans who do not agree with the administration’s policies, and actions” and called for “an end to the president’s blatant lies.”
There are about 8,000 Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians citizens in the Twin Cities and surrounding areas, according to the post. The council asked tribal members to document interactions with ICE by contacting the tribe directly. The tribe’s embassy in Minneapolis has also been closed for the rest of the week.
Protesters are carrying signs and chanting, including some signs that say, “ICE Out Now,” “We deserve to be safe in our community,” and “Resist Fascism.”
Chants include “We Keep Us Safe,” “ICE Out Now,” “ICE Go Home,” “Quit Your Job” and “Justice Now!”
Scores of people bundled up in heavy coats gathered as dawn began to break Thursday in a parking lot near the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling. The building houses several federal agencies, including an immigration court.
The crowd was chanting and holding American flags and signs calling on ICE to leave Minnesota.
Protesters confront federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
Protesters confront federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
A protester receives aid after confronting law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
A bullet hole and blood stains are seen in a crashed vehicle on at the scene of a shooting in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (Ben Hovland/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
People gather for a vigil after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman earlier in the day, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
People gather for a vigil after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman earlier in the day, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Protesters gather outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
