Identity of ICE agent who shot Minneapolis woman is confirmed, protests continue
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This story includes live updates from Jan. 8, 2026 about the fatal shooting of Renee Macklin Good by an ICE agent and the surge of federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota. For the latest news on ICE in Minnesota, visit our collection of stories here.
Protests happened Thursday around the Twin Cities in response to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent killing Renee Good in Minneapolis Wednesday.
8:20 p.m. | More Minnesota schools cancel classes
Late Thursday evening Fridley Public Schools and Columbia Heights Public Schools decided to cancel classes or shift to flex learning for the week. Fridley school leaders said the closure was a result of “fear and disruption due to ICE activity.”
— Elizabeth Shockman, MPR News
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7:10 p.m. | Tribute at Timberwolves game
The Minnesota Timberwolves had a moment of silence ahead of their game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Coach Chris Finch addressed the media about the killing.
“As we all know, our community has suffered yet another unspeakable tragedy. And we want to just convey our condolences and heartfelt wishes and prayers and thoughts to the families and loved ones and all of those that are greatly affected by what happened,” he said.
6:07 p.m. | Despite bad weather protesters gather
A couple hundred people gathered at a demonstration in south Minneapolis. Heather lives in the neighborhood and says she feels exhausted and furious but also resolved.
“There’s a steeliness to the organizers, to the community, to people coming together and the best we can do is reach for each other and draw a line. And say this is it. No more, no more, enough,” she said.
— Erica Zurek and Ellie Roth, MPR News
4:57 p.m. | NPR confirms identity of ICE agent as Jonathan Ross
NPR has confirmed Jonathan Ross is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis Wednesday. Ross has more than 10 years of experience as an ICE deportation officer and was selected for the special response team.
While the Department of Homeland Security has not released Ross’ name, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said earlier that the agent who killed Renee Good had been in a situation months earlier where he was dragged by a car during an enforcement operation.
By cross referencing court records, NPR matched a court case against a Mexican national, Roberto Carlos Munoz-Guatemala, who was found guilty in December of assaulting a federal officer. The Homeland Security Department confirmed to NPR that is the court case that Noem was referring to.
Ross’ name is mentioned in the court documents for the case. The incident report said Munoz-Guatemala sped away as a federal officer was trying to arrest him, trapping the agent’s arm and causing him to sustain injuries to his arm and hand.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant DHS secretary of public affairs, said in a statement that the agency was not naming the agent and that “doxxing our officers put their lives and their families in serious danger.” She called on the Minnesota Star Tribune to “delete their story immediately.”
— Ximena Bustillo, NPR and Sam Stroozas, MPR News
4 p.m. | Walz signs order to prep Minnesota National Guard for possible action
Gov. Tim Walz signed a formal executive order on Thursday that will ready Minnesota National Guard soldiers to provide assistance to local law enforcement if they're needed.
This is not a formal call-up just yet. Walz indicated his order would allow for quicker activation should that be necessary and allow National Guard leaders to spend money to get ready.
“As part of ongoing planning activities, and in response to potential capacity concerns from local leaders, it is important to ensure optimal readiness in the case of changes to the public safety environment,” the order reads in part.
Walz said Wednesday that he’d given the Minnesota National Guard a “heads-up” to be ready for possible mobilization.
The governor on Thursday also said there are 85 members of the Minnesota State Patrol's Mobile Response Team who have been designated to support law enforcement efforts in the Twin Cities.
— Brian Bakst, MPR News
2:30 p.m. | Vance: ICE agent justified in killing Good, has ‘absolute immunity’
At the White House Thursday, Vice President JD Vance further staked out the Trump administration’s position that the ICE agent who shot and killed a woman in south Minneapolis Wednesday acted within his authority to defend himself from a vehicle moving toward him.
Vance took an unyielding stance on the federal government’s exclusive role in the investigation, criticizing Walz and seemingly dismissing his request to let Minnesota investigators rejoin the probe.
“The precedent here is very simple. You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action. That's a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job,” Vance said.
The vice president said he won’t let “Tim Walz and a bunch of radicals in Minneapolis” pursue a case and “make this guy’s life miserable because he was doing the job he was asked to do.”
He called Good’s death a "tragedy of her own making” and said the agent had previously been involved in a similar run-in months ago that resulted in the agent needing 33 stitches after being dragged.
“So you think maybe he's a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile?” Vance said from the White House press room where he bashed reporting on the episode as slanted.
— Brian Bakst, MPR News
2:20 p.m. | Minnesota public safety head urges feds to bring BCA back into probe
State officials on Thursday urged the FBI to bring them back into the fold on an investigation into the shooting by an ICE agent.
Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was initially working in tandem with the FBI after an ICE officer killed 37-year-old Renee Good. But reversed course, saying it has sole authority.
Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said that could hamper a state investigation and possible prosecution.
“Unless we do that thorough investigation, unless we have access to all of that evidence, unless we have access to the agents that were involved in that, to any witnesses, without any of that, we would not be able to put together a quality investigation for any prosecutor to be able to make a determination as to whether or not someone should be charged with a crime,” he said.
Jacobson and Gov. Tim Walz urged the Trump administration to allow state and local law enforcement officers to participate in the investigation to ensure public trust in its results.
“Use our professional folks. They will gain you the credibility and the trust of Minnesotans to believe the work that you're doing is honest and it's not just a whitewashed to back fill a preconceived notion,” Walz said.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Thursday that her office began exploring options available to ensure a state-level investigation could move forward.
“If the FBI is the sole investigative agency, the State will not receive the investigative findings, and our community may never learn about its contents,” Moriarty said in a statement. “We are speaking to our local partners on paths forward that will allow us to review the investigation and be transparent in our decision making."
— Dana Ferguson, MPR News
11:48 a.m. | Walz questions fairness of probe with FBI solely in charge
Walz on Thursday questioned whether an investigation into the shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent Wednesday in Minneapolis could be fair and impartial with only the FBI in charge.
Authorities said Wednesday that the FBI and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension would work jointly on the probe, but the BCA said Thursday the FBI reversed course and that the federal agency would be the sole investigative unit.
The BCA said the FBI had shut out the state agents’ access to evidence, witnesses and information collected.
“Minnesota must be part of this investigation,” Walz told reporters late Thursday morning, noting that the BCA has significant expertise in probing shootings by law enforcement.
“It feels now that Minnesota has been taken out of the investigation. It feels very, very difficult that we will get a fair outcome” with the FBI solely in charge, he said, adding that President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “have told you things that are verifiably false.”
Walz said Noem and others have already prejudged the outcome of the investigation. Noem, he added, “was basically judge, jury and executioner" in her comments Wednesday.
Walz continued to plead for people to protest peacefully, saying the Trump administration was looking for an excuse to bring troops into the region.
He said he was particularly distressed about federal agents descending on Minneapolis Roosevelt High School Wednesday, saying, “I beg you, implore you to tell them to stay out of our schools.”
Young students protest ICE actions
Young students marched near Kenny Community School on Thursday in Minneapolis to protest the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent as well as the presence of U.S. Border Patrol agents Wednesday at Minneapolis Roosevelt High School.
Minneapolis Public Schools are closed for the rest of the week due to safety concerns following the enforcement action.
— Kerem Yücel, MPR News
10:20 a.m. | State investigators say they are off the case, FBI solely in charge
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says it’s no longer part of the investigation into the killing of a woman in Minneapolis by an ICE agent.
Authorities on Wednesday said the BCA would be working jointly with the FBI on the investigation. BCA agents went to the scene Wednesday believing they’d play a role.
But in a statement Thursday, the BCA said the FBI reversed course and that the federal agency would be the sole investigative unit.
That meant the BCA would no longer have access to the case materials, scene evidence or investigative interviews necessary to complete a thorough and independent investigation, the state agency said.
“Without complete access to the evidence, witnesses and information collected, we cannot meet the investigative standards that Minnesota law and the public demands,” the BCA added.
Later in the morning at a press conference, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the BCA did not have jurisdiction and had not been cut out of the investigation.
8:45 a.m. | Protesters gather at federal Whipple Building in Minneapolis
A couple hundred people gathered at the Whipple Building to protest ICE, which has been using the federal building as a base for their operations. People marched through the parking lot and stopped at the gated-off parking area at the building.
People started gathering in the street and standing in front of the driveways to block the areas where federal agents would drive in and out.
Federal agents are trying to push the protest line back, deploying chemical irritants.
—Estelle Timar-Wilcox, MPR News
8:25 a.m. | Portland Avenue
Community members are gathering on a closed-off block of Portland Avenue. Barricades are blocking access to the 3300 block of Portland Avenue.
Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent on Wednesday morning, near the intersection of 34th Street and Portland Avenue South.
—Ben Hovland, MPR News
7:30 a.m. | Planned protests
People are marching Thursday morning to the Whipple Federal Building, which is being used as a base for immigration enforcement agents.
There will also be a gathering at noon at the site of the fatal shooting near the corner of 34th Street and Portland Avenue South. Minneapolis clergy and faith leaders plan to call for the immediate removal of ICE in Minnesota at that press conference.
Another gathering of local activists is planned Thursday afternoon at the Hennepin County Government Center. Speakers at that event plan to call for the arrest of the ICE agent who shot Renee Good, the release of all video and body-worn camera footage and accountability from federal authorities.
Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m. there is also a planned anti-ICE protest near Lake Street and Chicago Avenue.
