Local experts reviewing videos of the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by a federal agent disagree on how conclusive they are, but even those who see clear evidence of an overreaction by the officer say it will be difficult to prosecute him.
Renee Good, 37, was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross in south Minneapolis on Wednesday morning as Good was driving through the scene of an immigration raid.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during a news conference Wednesday evening that Good attempted to use her vehicle to ram into the agent, and that he shot her in self-defense. But to at least some experts, multiple videos of the shooting from different angles appear to contradict Noem’s claim.
Some attorneys say the shooting appeared to be an excessive use of force, while others say it is too soon to make that call. But immunities that protect law enforcement, as well as how rare it is for charges to be brought against federal agents, would make it challenging to prosecute.
Unjustifiable use of force
The killing has prompted widespread outrage from Minnesota elected officials and thousands of protesters, who regard videos of the shooting evidence of excessive use of force. Some attorneys who have analyzed the video came to the same conclusion.
“It was a disproportionate use of force as compared to what the ICE agent was facing with Ms. Good in that vehicle,” said Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney Andy Noel. “It looks like an overreaction.”
University of Minnesota law professor Emmanuel Mauleón called what he saw in the video “egregious and reckless conduct.”
“The other ICE officer who was at the door appears to jump back and run away because he’s almost getting shot by his fellow officer who’s just sort of firing fairly quickly and wildly at the woman in the vehicle,” Mauleón said.
The Department of Homeland Security’s use of force policy, which the agency updated in 2023, requires officers and agents to use a level of force that is “objectively reasonable,” and only when all other alternatives have been exhausted. A provision in the policy also prohibits DHS officers from using deadly force against someone who is fleeing, and shooting at someone driving a moving vehicle unless they fear for their life.
Good was at least the fifth person killed by ICE since the Trump administration ramped up its immigration enforcement efforts last year, according to the Associated Press.
In September, Silverio Villegas González was shot and killed by ICE agents in his vehicle during a traffic stop in suburban Chicago after dropping his children off at daycare. Jaime Alanis died in July during an immigration raid in southern California when he broke his neck after falling off the roof of a greenhouse.
Two more men were killed in traffic accidents while fleeing from ICE agents on foot. Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez was fatally struck by an SUV on a freeway in southern California in August, and Josue Castro Rivera was fatally struck by a pickup truck on the highway in Virginia in October.
No federal officers have been charged in any of these deaths.
Tom Heffelfinger, former U.S. attorney for Minnesota from 1991 to 1993 and 2001 to 2006, called the videos “extraordinarily disturbing.” He said comments from Noem and Vice President JD Vance defending the shooting as an acceptable use of force were premature.
Thomas Plunkett, defense attorney for former officer J. Alexander Kueng, one of the four officers charged in George Floyd’s murder, also said it is too soon to draw any kind of conclusion.
“You need to consider the totality of the circumstances, and while we have videos, we don’t have all of the information necessary to make an informed decision on an extremely important issue,” Plunkett told Sahan Journal. “This is about fairness to both sides.”
University of St. Thomas School of Law professor Rachel Moran agreed, and said the video evidence alone is not very definitive.
“My general impression is that it’s premature for politicians to be saying it was in self defense,” Moran said, citing Noem’s claims. “If anything, the videos suggest that it may not have been.”
Prosecuting federal agents
What governs the lethal use of force for all law enforcement officers is the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
“The important point is that the same constitutional standard applies to a use of deadly force, whether this is a local, city, county, state law enforcement official or a federal official,” said Noel. Key to any investigation “is whether a reasonable officer believes that he was confronted with a threat of imminent death or serious bodily harm.”
The threat of imminent death or bodily injury, Mauleón said, is often used to defend law enforcement officers’ use of lethal force because the standard only asks if it was reasonable from the perspective of the officer at the scene, and not whether it was the least amount of force needed for compliance. Courts usually are deferential to the law enforcement officer, he said.
In the hours after the shooting, the FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which investigates all use of force incidents involving police officers across the state, announced a joint investigation. Less than a day later, however, the BCA was informed the FBI would be moving forward in the investigation by itself, meaning the state agency would now have no access to evidence or case materials to conduct its own investigation.
On Thursday, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced their own separate investigation into the killing.
Moran said local and state prosecutors can bring charges against the ICE agent, but the officer’s status as a federal agent could complicate matters. The federal officer has a right to try to move the case to federal court and potentially could ask for the case to be dismissed.
“The agent has the possibility of getting the charge dismissed by saying that he was acting within his authorized federal duties and that he was doing what was necessary to accomplish those duties,” said Moran. “And that would be a decision, ultimately, for a federal judge to make.”
It’s fairly rare for any police officer to be charged with a crime, and federal officers are charged even more rarely because of their relatively small number and how rarely they commit crimes, Moran said.
“We’re not necessarily in uncharted territory, but there’s definitely a lot a lot less to draw on in terms of past examples of something like this happening in Minnesota and across the nation as well,” Noel said.
If the case does eventually go to trial, it’s not the claims from federal officials like Noem or the views of commentators that will decide its outcome, said Noel. It will be the judgment of a jury.
“It’s going to be a group of 12 or so people from different walks of life who get to review the evidence and hear from whoever’s willing to testify to make that determination.”
