Renee Good’s Family Sues U.S., Trump Aides, ICE Agent

The family of Renee Good, the 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother of three fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis in January, filed two federal civil lawsuits on Thursday against the United States, senior Trump administration officials and the officer who pulled the trigger, NBC News reported.

The suits, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, allege wrongful death and a conspiracy to violate civil rights, seeking to hold both the government and the individuals behind the lethal encounter accountable for a killing that became a flashpoint in the national debate over the administration’s mass deportation campaign.

The Two Lawsuits

The first complaint names the United States as the sole defendant under the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging wrongful death under Minnesota law predicated on battery, assault, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence. Per the FTCA, it seeks a bench trial before a judge rather than a jury, and requires a fixed dollar amount that cannot later be changed.

The second suit names eight individuals and ten unidentified federal agents. According to a press release from the family’s law firm, Romanucci & Blandin, the defendants include ICE officer Jonathan Ross, the shooter; White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller; former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem; Corey R. Lewandowski; Thomas D. Homan; Todd Lyons; Gregory Bovino; and John Doe Federal Agents 1-10. That complaint is brought under 42 U.S.C. sections 1985(3) and 1986 — the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 — alongside a Fourth Amendment excessive force claim under Bivens, and state tort claims. It seeks a jury trial.

The plaintiffs are Brent Ganger, Good’s brother, acting as trustee for her next of kin, including her three minor children, parents and siblings; and Becca Good, her partner.

What Happened on January 7

The lawsuits rest on an account of the shooting that the family’s attorneys say contradicts the government’s initial characterization. Good was sitting in the driver’s seat of her SUV on Portland Avenue when Ross opened fire. According to the Romanucci & Blandin release, she had just dropped her son at school and was with Becca and the family dog. After she stopped and honked to alert neighbors, Becca stepped out to film. Ross approached with his cell phone already recording, and Good told him, “I’m not mad at you. I’m not mad at any of you.”

As she turned her wheels away and began to pull forward, the attorneys say, Ross moved out of the vehicle’s path, then leaned in and fired a round through the windshield. He fired twice more from roughly a 90-degree angle through her open driver’s side window, one shot striking her in the head. No agent was in the vehicle’s path when any of the shots were fired, the firm asserts. Good was pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center at 10:30 a.m.

The family alleges the conduct violated the Department of Homeland Security’s own use-of-force policies, which permit deadly force only against an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury, prohibit firing solely to prevent escape, and require agents to obtain medical assistance as soon as practicable. Attorneys say no agent rendered aid, and that a bystander who identified himself as a physician was told “I don’t care” and barred from helping.

Speaking Out

At a press conference at the University of St. Thomas law school, family members and their attorneys described the filings as the start of a broader reckoning. The Minnesota Star Tribune’s live coverage captured the emotional remarks.

“I stand here with fierce determination to do what is right for my sister, for her children, and for our country — and that is to insist on accountability,” said Ganger. “We will not be quiet. We will not go away.”

Becca Good, speaking publicly for the first time, called Renee “the love of my life” and said, “Every morning, she is my first thought. I think about how the kids are growing up without their mama, and how I will grow old without the love of my life.” She added, “Accountability — real accountability — is the only way to make sure that no other family has to go through what we have.”

Attorney Antonio M. Romanucci said the suits were “the beginning of the ultimate legal weapon in uncovering the truth behind this unlawful use of deadly force.” He argued that “neither Renee nor Becca was the worst of the worst. They were exactly as their name says — Good folks.”

Why the Case Matters

The filing is among the first major civil lawsuits against the administration’s Minnesota deportation campaign, known as Operation Metro Surge. That operation deployed roughly 3,000 federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities after right-wing influencers drew attention to a state fraud scandal involving Somali nationals. As the Guardian noted, Good’s death — followed two weeks later by the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Customs and Border Protection agents — sparked nationwide protests and led the administration to withdraw its agents by mid-February.

The use of the Ku Klux Klan Act gives the case unusual reach, targeting senior officials for an alleged conspiracy rather than a single officer’s split-second decision. The attorneys say the operation was built on “exaggerated fraud accusations” used as a pretext to target Minnesotans of Somali or Hispanic origin.

The legal path is also notably constrained when a federal officer is involved. Suing a federal agent for constitutional violations is generally not permitted outside narrow circumstances; instead, plaintiffs must file a Standard Form-95 and wait six months before naming only the United States. The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and a representative for Ross could not be identified, NBC News reported.

Unlike a state or local police case, no jury of the family’s peers will hear the FTCA claim. The civil rights complaint, by contrast, would go before a jury if it proceeds.

What’s Next

The lawsuits now enter a lengthy pretrial phase in Minnesota federal court, where the two-track strategy may complicate the government’s defense: one case asks a judge to weigh the government’s liability, while the other asks a jury to weigh the officials’ intent. The case also unfolds against the backdrop of the 2026 midterm elections, where the administration’s immigration enforcement remains a central issue. At least ten prosecutors resigned following the fatal Minneapolis shootings, and the Justice Department’s early posture — including a probe of Becca Good’s ties to protest groups rather than a civil rights investigation of the shooting itself — is likely to be revisited in the litigation.

A DW report noted that the lawsuits allege “federal conspiracy with discriminatory design and authorized use of force against observers.” For Renee Good’s family, the filings mark a formal demand that the courts — and the public — not let her death go unanswered.