Renee Good's Family Sues U.S. Government Over ICE Killing

Renee Good's partner and brother filed two federal lawsuits Thursday alleging wrongful death and a civil-rights conspiracy over her January killing by an ICE officer.

Renee Good's family filed two civil lawsuits in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota on Thursday, nearly nine months after the 37-year-old mother of three was fatally shot by ICE officer Jonathan Ross on January 7 during the Trump administration's immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis. One suit, filed by Good's partner Becca Good and her brother Brent Ganger against the United States, alleges wrongful death, battery, assault, false imprisonment, negligence and emotional distress under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The second names Ross and senior officials and seeks a jury trial.

The second lawsuit alleges a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights, arguing Ross's shots were "the predictable and intended product" of a "carefully planned, coordinated effort" targeting Minnesotans of Somali and Hispanic descent and silencing those who documented the campaign. Attorneys with Romanucci & Blandin relied on the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. According to NPR, University of St. Thomas law professor Rachel Moran called the suit "very unusual," noting the family is turning the administration's own conspiracy-charging tactic on its head.

Bystander video shows Good in the driver's seat of a red SUV, honking her horn after stopping to support neighbors during an immigration operation. Two masked officers approach, and one orders her out. She reverses briefly and turns the wheel as Becca Good shouts "Drive, baby, drive!" According to an analysis of the videos by The Associated Press and others, the officer fires into the windshield, then fires two more times through the open driver's window. Federal officials claimed self-defense and an act of domestic terrorism, though NPR reports video contradicted claims she weaponized her vehicle.

Alongside Ross, the conspiracy suit names White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, border czar Tom Homan, former acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, former Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, and ten unnamed federal agents listed as John Does because the government has not released their identities. Family attorney Ben Berkman told NPR the first suit addresses what officers did to Good, while the second addresses why they were on that street at all.

The lawsuits underscore the absence of criminal charges: neither DHS nor Minnesota state and local officials have filed charges or released investigation findings, including in the killing of nurse Alex Pretti weeks later. NPR reports at least nine people have been killed by immigration agents since Trump returned to office, while CNBC and PBS put the figure at least 10. The White House said it will "vigorously defend these baseless civil lawsuits," and NPR notes DHS did not respond to its request for comment.

A Hennepin County spokesperson told NPR that state and local officials are reviewing evidence and will "communicate transparently when a decision is reached." Brent Ganger said the family will not wait: "The time is absolutely now for accountability." At her first public appearance since the killing, Becca Good described raising their 6-year-old alone, telling NBC News, "Every single one of these moments... she should be here for all of them. We were all robbed." Wrongful-death suits like these can reach entire institutions, not just individual agents.