It took just seven seconds for an encounter between Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and a driver in Minneapolis to turn deadly.
Videos of those moments, captured on cellphones by witnesses and the officer who opened fire and posted on social media, show how the confrontation escalated into gunshots that left a mother dead behind the wheel. The clips also contradict an account provided by President Donald Trump.
Trump, in a social media post hours after the Wednesday morning shooting, said the driver — later identified as Renee Nicole Good — “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused the driver of trying to run the officer over, saying “she hit him” in “an act of domestic terrorism.” The agency called her a violent rioter. All said the officer fired in self-defense.
“It is hard to believe he is alive,” Trump said.
A close look at the videos shows that Good’s car did not knock down the officer, whose legs were to the side of the SUV as it moved by him while he fired. The officer walked away from the scene unassisted. Noem said he was treated at a hospital and released.
In the videos, the confrontation, which is under investigation by the FBI, begins with Good’s Honda Pilot SUV partially blocking traffic on a residential street in south Minneapolis with several federal vehicles in her path. Bystanders are shouting and blowing whistles, and police sirens are wailing. Next to the SUV, a woman, who later identified herself as Good’s wife, and an ICE officer, later identified as Jonathan Ross, are recording the scene with their phones.
Ross’ video shows his perspective as he gets out of a car and approaches the SUV from the passenger side. A black dog perched in the rear passenger side seat of the SUV looks at Ross through an open window. Ross circles around the front of the SUV and faces Good, who sits behind the wheel, smiling at him.
“That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you,” Good says, her left arm hanging out the window.
Ross continues walking to the rear of the SUV, near the woman who identified herself as Good’s wife.
“Hey, show your face, big boy. Show your face,” the woman says to Ross, who is masked.
Ross films the SUV’s rear license plate, then points his phone at the woman, who is holding a cellphone back at him. “That’s OK, we don’t change our plates every morning,” she says. “Just so you know. It’ll be the same plate when you come talk to us later.”
Ross keeps circling around to the SUV’s passenger side. The woman keeps talking to him. “That’s fine. U.S. citizen,” she says. She adds: “You want to come at us? You want to come at us? I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy. Go ahead.”
Around this time, witness videos show Good waving cars past her from the driver’s seat of the SUV. Two more federal officers pull up, get out of their car and approach Good. One tells her, “Get out of the car. Out of the car. Get out of the f------ car. Get out of the car.” One of the officers grabs the driver’s door handle and reaches inside the open driver’s side window.
Ross keeps moving around the SUV, making his way to the front.
The woman who identified herself as Good’s wife turns to get into the front passenger seat of the SUV, but the door does not open. Ross is now facing the front of the SUV and is stepping toward the driver’s side. A woman says something that sounds like “drive.”
Witness videos show Good reversing, then moving forward, turning her wheels to the right, away from the officers.
Ross has come around to the front driver’s side of the SUV, and he draws his gun.
Ross’ video captures what sounds like him hollering “whoa,” and he fires. The view of his phone camera jerks around, points up to the sky and captures a glimpse of his masked face.
Witness videos show that at the moment Ross fires his first shot into the front of the SUV, its wheels are directed away from him. His legs appear to be clear of the car. He fires the second and third shots into the open driver’s side window as the car is moving.
Ross’ phone levels out and captures the SUV accelerating down the street. A male voice says, “f------ b----.”
Good, struck in the head, loses control of the SUV, which accelerates and crashes into a parked car about 140 feet away.
After the shooting, the woman who identified herself as Good’s wife runs to the crashed car. Ross walks over, as well, then asks for someone to call 911. Less than 30 seconds later, he gets into a car and is driven away.
