Federal investigators assigned to the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman are looking into her possible connections to activist groups protesting the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement, in addition to the actions of the federal agent who killed her, people familiar with the situation said.
It seems increasingly unlikely that the agent who fired three times at the unarmed woman, Renee Nicole Good, will face criminal charges, although that could change as investigators collect new evidence, the people added.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump described Good and her wife, Becca Good, as being “professional agitators,” adding that authorities would “find out who’s paying for it.” He offered no evidence.
The decision by the FBI and the Justice Department to scrutinize Good’s activities and her potential connections to local activists is in line with the White House’s strategy of deflecting blame for the shooting away from federal law enforcement and toward opponents they have described as domestic terrorists, often without providing evidence.
Justice Department officials under Trump have long maintained that investigating and punishing protesters who organized efforts to physically obstruct or disrupt immigration enforcement is a legitimate subject of federal inquiries. But casting a broad net over the activist community in Minneapolis, former department officials and critics of the administration said, raises the specter that forms of political protest traditionally protected by the First Amendment could be criminalized.
Federal officials, who have blocked local investigators from reviewing the evidence they are collecting, have said that they are conducting a thorough inquiry that includes an analysis of the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross and of physical evidence, including the handgun he used to kill Good.
The civil rights division of the Justice Department, which has investigated law enforcement officials for killing or injuring citizens in the past, has not opened an investigation into whether the agent violated Good’s rights under federal law, according to a federal law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The official added that the division was not expected to initiate a case.
It is unclear how deeply Good was involved in activism in Minneapolis beyond participating with her wife in the protest against immigration officers on the day she was killed. In a group chat used by local residents to monitor ICE movements, her wife was described as a “helper” in that action.
