People tend to a memorial for Renee Nicole Good near the site of her shooting on January 8, 2026 in Minneapolis. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
(MINNEAPOLIS) — Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis mom fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday in an alleged vehicle-ramming incident, “sparkled” and “was made of sunshine,” her wife said in an emotional statement to Minnesota Public Radio.
Becca Good told MPR Friday that on Jan. 7., she and her wife “stopped to support our neighbors” before the incident, which was caught on video and has sparked outrage and protests, occurred.
“We had whistles. They had guns,” she said, according to the statement.
Videos of the incident where Good is seen in her maroon Honda SUV as ICE agents confronted her have gone viral and sparked outcry from people around the country who say that Good was unnecessarily killed.
According to Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, Good was allegedly “attempting to run over our law enforcement officers” with her car when an ICE officer fatally shot her.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have disputed the federal government’s claims surrounding what led up to the shooting, saying video of the incident shows the agent’s actions were not self-defense.
Messages of sympathy for Renee Good have been pouring out since the shooting.
“Renee lived by an overarching belief: there is kindness in the world and we need to do everything we can to find it where it resides and nurture it where it needs to grow,” Becca Good said in her statement.
“Renee was a Christian who knew that all religions teach the same essential truth: we are here to love each other, care for each other, and keep each other safe and whole,” she added.
Renee Good was a 2020 graduate from Old Dominion University in Virginia, according to the school’s president, Brian Hemphill, who said it is “with great sadness that Old Dominion University mourns the loss of one of our own.”
She graduated from the College of Arts and Letters with a degree in English, according to Hemphill.
“May Renee’s life be a reminder of what unites us: freedom, love, and peace,” he said in a statement. “My hope is for compassion, healing, and reflection at a time that is becoming one of the darkest and most uncertain periods in our nation’s history.”
Walz said that Good is survived by a 6-year-old child. During a news conference Thursday the governor offered his “deepest sympathies” to her family “on an unimaginable tragedy.”
Renee Good was also the mother of two other children, according to her wife. The 6-year-old’s father died, according to Becca Good.
“I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him. That the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way,” she told MPR.
Becca Good told MPR she and her wife moved to Minnesota “to make a better life for ourselves.”
“Our whole extended road trip here, we held hands in the car while our son drew all over the windows to pass the time and the miles,” she said.
Becca Good talked about the “vibrant and welcoming community,” the two met once they arrived.
“Here, I had finally found peace and safe harbor. That has been taken from me forever,” she said.
“We were raising our son to believe that no matter where you come from or what you look like, all of us deserve compassion and kindness. Renee lived this belief every day. She is pure love. She is pure joy. She is pure sunshine,” Becca Good added.
DHS, along with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, has called the agent’s actions “self-defense” and said he followed ICE training.
Noem said during a press conference on Wednesday that Good was using her car as a “deadly weapon” and said it was an “act of domestic terrorism.”
Minneapolis police said preliminary information indicates that she was in her car and blocking the road.
“At some point, a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot, and the vehicle began to drive off,” police said. “At least two shots were fired … the vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.”
“There is nothing to indicate that this woman was the target of any law enforcement investigation or activity,” police added.
Becca Good told MPR that on Jan. 7. she and her wife “stopped to support our neighbors.”
“We had whistles. They had guns,” she said.
Renee Good suffered gunshot wounds to the head and was transported to an area hospital, where she died, according to city officials.
Following the shooting, a large crowd gathered in the area, which is less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed in May 2020.
Gov. Walz said he has issued a “warning order” to prepare the Minnesota National Guard, saying there are soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed “if necessary,” while urging “peaceful resistance.”
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24,2022 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 05, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(UVALDE, Texas) — Javier Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter Jackie was killed in the Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting, said he feels failed again after a jury on Wednesday night acquitted former school district police officer Adrian Gonzales on all 29 counts of child endangerment.
“We had a little hope, but it wasn’t enough,” Cazares said outside court. “Again, we are failed. I don’t even know what to say.”
Prosecutors had alleged Gonzales did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 students who survived the May 24, 2022, Robb Elementary School mass shooting. Gonzales’ lawyers argued he was unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day.
Cazares said he was hopeful that the jury might have reached a different conclusion, but “prepared for the worst.”
“I need to keep composed for my daughter. It has been an emotional rollercoaster since day one. I am pissed,” he said.
Jackie’s uncle, Jesse Rizo, told reporters he was concerned about the message the verdict might send to police officers who respond to future mass shootings.
“I respect the jury’s decision, but what message does it send?” he said. “If you’re an officer, you can simply stand by, stand down, stand idle, and not do anything and wait for everybody to be executed, killed, slaughtered, massacred.”
Jackie’s aunt, Julissa Rizo, pushed back on the defense narrative that Gonzales responded as best he could, telling ABC News, “That’s not true.”
“There were two monsters on May 24. One was the shooter, and the other one was the one that never went in, that could have avoided this,” she said.
Defense attorney Jason Goss told reporters that he believes the acquittal clears Gonzales’ name.
“The evidence showed that not only did he not fail, but he put himself in great danger,” Goss said.
Gonzales told ABC News he plans on “picking up the pieces and moving forward.”
Defense attorney Nico LaHood said he will continue to pray for the victims’ families.
“We understand that their separation from their loved one is going to be felt as long as they walk on this earth, and we don’t ignore that. We acknowledge that,” he said. “We’re just going to continue to pray for them.”
Cazares said he will attend the trial of the other officer charged, former Uvalde Schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo.
Arredondo, who was the on-site commander on the day of the Robb Elementary shooting, is also charged with endangerment or abandonment of a child and has pleaded not guilty. His case has been delayed indefinitely by an ongoing federal lawsuit filed after the U.S. Border Patrol refused repeated efforts by Uvalde prosecutors to interview Border Patrol agents who responded to the shooting, including two who were in the tactical unit responsible for killing the gunman at the school.
ABC News’ John Quiñones and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
Armed Secret Service agents stand on stage during a shooting incident at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton, April 25, 2026, in Washington. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) – A Secret Service after-action review is underway to examine the security and possible lapses from the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in the wake of Saturday’s shooting, according to officials briefed on internal procedures at the agency.
The review is being conducted as a matter of standard procedure, which requires that such a probe be conducted whenever there is an “attack on a protectee.”
The review will go step-by-step through security planning and preparation, the deployment and assignment of personnel, and what occurred once the suspect rushed the Secret Service checkpoint in a failed effort to access the Washington Hilton ballroom, where the dinner was being held.
The Secret Service declined to comment to ABC News on the after-action review.
“The Secret Service is constantly looking to improve its protective methods and learn from both successes and failure, like what happened at the Washington Hilton,” said retired senior Secret Service official Don Mihalek, an ABC News contributor. “Those lessons often translate to better protective tools, training and tactics to make the agency better.”
The White House also plans to meet with Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security leadership early this week “to discuss protocol and practices for major events” involving President Donald Trump, according to a senior White House official.
“The meeting will discuss the processes and procedures that worked to stop Saturday’s attempt, while exploring additional options to ensure all relevant components are doing everything possible to secure the many major events planned for President Trump in the months ahead as he gears up to celebrate America 250,” the official said.
The White House emphasized its confidence in Secret Service leadership and praised the agents for intercepting the attacker and preventing further harm.
Trump has also repeatedly praised the Secret Service since Saturday’s shooting. He told Fox News on Sunday, “They were strong, relatively speaking, compared to what the potential threat was — the Secret Service and all law enforcement was … I thought they were outstanding.”
The suspect, 31-year-old Cole Allen, was tackled by law enforcement after gunfire inside the Hilton, where thousands of journalists as well as Trump and members of his Cabinet were gathered for the annual dinner, officials said.
Allen was detained near the main magnetometer area for the event, with surveillance video showing him running past security officials. Allen — who is a trained mechanical engineer working as a tutor in California — was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives, police said.
A Secret Service member was shot, but the bullet hit the agent’s protective vest, Trump said.
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said Monday that the suspect’s “intent was to bring down as many of the high-ranking cabinet officials as he could.”
Allen appeared in court on Monday to face three felony counts of attempted assassination of the President of the United States, transportation of a firearm and ammunition over state lines with the intent to commit a felony and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Allen did not enter a plea.
The judge scheduled a detention hearing for Thursday and ordered Allen to be temporarily detained until then. Allen’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 11.
