Will Trump and Kristi Noem be able to maintain their blatant lies despite multiple videos showing the victim trying to drive away while being shot three times by an ICE agent?
Law enforcement and a protester are on the scene after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis on January 7.
(Stephen Maturin/Getty Images)
Sometimes reality is exaggerated. But the victim's name turned out to be Good.
Renee Nicole Good, 37, was killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning. She appeared to be trying to turn away from the ICE caravan when the agent ran to her window and shot her three times, apparently in the face. We only learned her name many hours later. It was the ninth ICE shooting since September. She was a US citizen (and white).
If the video of Goode's murder (there are many angles) had shown gunshot wounds, it would have been removed from (most) social media. Networks will never air them. Since somehow no angle showed the carnage, we can look at several videos that were almost equally devastating for me. She may have started by blocking the ICE motorcade as a show of force. It's not even clear yet. After hearing the gunshots, the video shows Goode's Honda veering sharply left and then crashing into parked cars; then we heard a car horn. I don't know if it's because she collapsed on top of him or if it's what cars do when they crash. I'm lucky I don't know.
This longest video I saw the murder and its consequences. It's very hard to watch.
There is a video of a doctor who was her neighbor trying to find out if she is okay. ICE did not allow this to happen.
We saw video of her neighbors pleading with ICE agents to get to Goode's car and see if she was alive. ICE blocked them.
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We also saw video of a white airbag covered in red blood inside her car. Her glove compartment was filled with stuffed animals. She had a six year old child. Her partner was standing on the sidewalk screaming when she was shot.
We turned to journalists Hood's mother said“She must have been terrified… She was loving, forgiving and gentle.”
This was not the position of national security official Kristi Noem. She insisted that “the rioters started blocking the ICE officers, and one of these violent rioters armed her vehicle, trying to run over our law enforcement officers, trying to kill them,” after which the ICE officer fired “defensive shots.” (She repeated this nonsense hours later after we saw the videos proving her lies.)
Donald Trump, a known liar, endorsed Noem.
“I just watched the video of the event that took place in Minneapolis. It is a terrible sight. The screaming woman was obviously a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very erratic, obstructive and resisting…”
It's all terrible to watch, but not for the reason the liar claimed. Are we really at a point in our society where these lies can prevail over multiple video angles that show a woman trying to drive away when she was shot three times at close range by an ICE agent? I pray not.
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Mayor Jacob Frey immediately called it bullshit—literally. “Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everyone straight out that this is bullshit,” Frey said at a press conference. “This was an agent who used power recklessly, resulting in someone dying, being murdered.” He went on to write “a message to ICE: Get the hell out of Minneapolis!”
Gov. Tim Walz, who just announced he will not run for re-election not only because of the welfare fraud scandal plaguing the state but also because of threats against his family, has emerged from the situation with courage and determination.
“We have been warning for weeks that the Trump administration's dangerous, sensational operations pose a threat to our public safety, that someone could get hurt,” Walz said, adding to his fellow Minnesotans: “I feel your anger, I am angry.” He went on to ask protesters to “please do this peacefully, like you always do… Don't let them invoke the Insurrection Act. Don't let them declare martial law.”
I hope local protesters will listen to Walz. Trump is looking for an excuse to provoke violence and, yes, impose martial law. Local protesters followed ICE from the scene of the killing as its agents appeared to retreat, simply pelting them with snowballs. ICE has not yet responded.
Remember that ICE has received millions more to hire new agents and has lowered the requirements to join this ignorant agency. The scumbag who killed Renee Nicole Goode is still at large. This tragedy will repeat itself. But I hope that Minnesotans speaking out against ICE will make history in nonviolent protest, because these fascists, if given the chance, will make it not only an excuse to suppress anti-democracy, but also a bloodbath.
Take care of each other, please.
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