By Kathy Mccormack and Mark Vancleave
MINNEAPOLIS — Renee Good’s family sued the U.S. government and several immigration officials Thursday, alleging wrongful death, conspiracy and other violations in the 37-year-old woman’s killing by an immigration officer during a federal crackdown in Minneapolis.
The two lawsuits were filed by Good’s partner, Becca Good, and Renee’s brother Brent Ganger.
The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuits.
Trending
Renee Good, a mother of three, was fatally shot Jan. 7 as protests against immigration raids flared across the city. According to Becca Good, her partner stopped their car in a street to support neighbors during an immigration operation.
Bystander video shows Renee Good in the driver’s seat of a red SUV blocking part of the road and repeatedly honking her horn.
Two immigration officers get out of a truck, their faces covered, and one orders Good to get out of the car. She reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel as the officer says again, “get out of the car.”
Almost simultaneously, Becca Good, standing in the street, shouts: “Drive, baby, drive!”
One officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and fires into the windshield. He lurches back as the car turns away from him. The officer, who is now very close to the open window on the driver’s side, opens fire two more times, fatally shooting Renee Good, according to an analysis of the videos by The Associated Press and others.
Federal officials at the time said the officer acted in self-defense and that Good had engaged in “an act of domestic terrorism.”
The lawsuit against the United States of America seeks damages for Good’s wrongful death and “the immense suffering Renee endured in the final moments of her life and for the profound and permanent losses that her death has inflicted upon her family,” according to a news release filed by lawyers for Ganger and Good.
The lawsuit also alleges “intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress” on Becca Good.
Becca and Renee Good were not legally married, according to a family lawyer, but referred to one another as wives. They had only recently relocated to Minneapolis from Kansas City, Missouri. It asks for a bench trial.
The other lawsuit alleges a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights and seeks a jury trial.
It says the shots fired by Jonathan Ross, the immigration officer who killed Good, “were the predictable and intended product of the operation,” which the lawsuit describes as a “carefully planned, coordinated effort between senior federal officials and private actors to make two ethnic communities — Minnesotans of Somali and Hispanic descent and origin — the object of aggression and abduction, and to silence by intimidation, arrest and violence the neighbors and allies of those targeted communities who observed, documented and warned of that campaign,” according to the news release.
The lawsuit also alleges “collaboration of federal agencies and individuals with private entities for an operation with discriminatory design, racially targeted pursuit and seizure of individuals without regard to their legal status, and each defendant’s participation in the conspiracy.”
It names Ross as a defendant, as well as: White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller; former Homeland Security head Kristi Noem; former U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino; Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump’s campaign manager, and others.
The killing of Good and another U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis just weeks later sparked outrage across the country and calls to rein in immigration enforcement. At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration officers during President Donald Trump’s second term.
In social media accounts, Renee Good described herself as a “poet and writer and wife and mom.” On Pinterest, a profile picture shows her smiling and holding a young child, alongside posts about tattoos, hairstyles and home decorating.
In an interview shortly after her death, Renee Good’s mother, Donna Ganger, told The Associated Press: “She had this way of making you feel special and loved that I didn’t even understand that until we lost her.”
“As we have tried to navigate our own massive loss, I am also devastated by how many other lives have been destroyed in this darkest of times,” Becca Good said in the news release Thursday. “So many other families are dealing with the loss of their loved ones; to everyone who has had to witness it — the pain of this moment extends far beyond our family. What happened to us should never happen to any family.”
McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire.
Author
