Overview:
Residents held two roadside vigils in Montague Center to protest the killing of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, by an ICE agent during an operation in Minneapolis. The vigils were organized by community members who expressed their dismay over Good's death and called for a change in how ICE conducts itself. Good's killing is not the first incident of an ICE agent shooting a civilian in recent years.
MONTAGUE CENTER — Residents gathered along Main Street on Thursday to hold two roadside vigils for Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis, with attendees calling for change.
A group of around 30 people turned out to the latter vigil at 4 p.m. with roses, candles and signs condemning ICE. Some wore black, including two organizers, Marina Goldman and Emily Monosson.
Monosson said that after hearing about Good’s death, she felt she “needed to do something.” She knew of a vigil organized in Holyoke that night, but the timing was limited, so she organized a more local vigil by emailing fellow community members.
The Montague Center vigils took place the day after the fatal shooting occurred during an ICE operation in a residential neighborhood of Minneapolis. The ICE agent accused of shooting Good has been identified as Jonathan Ross.
Good was a 37-year-old mother of three, a poet and a welcomed community member, CNN reports. She was described by her mother as “one of the kindest people” she has known.
According to a New York Times video analysis, claims made by White House officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, say that the shots were fired defensively while the ICE agent, later identified as Ross, was being run over.
Footage before the shooting depicts the SUV driven by Good parked in the middle of the roadway. Good waves on a vehicle that passes in front of her SUV as Ross films on his phone, walks around the idle SUV and out of the frame of the footage. An unmarked silver pickup truck pulls to a stop to the left of the SUV, and this is when two ICE agents exit and approach the SUV. One officer begins grabbing at the driver’s side door handle and reaching into the vehicle through the window as the vehicle begins to reverse, seemingly to leave, before pulling forward to the right when the shots are fired.
The video shows how Ross was out of the way of the SUV’s path, standing to the left of the vehicle as it pulled forward, with its front tires angled to the right. The vehicle did not make contact with the officer, contradicting accounts that the officer was struck, or was about to be struck, by the SUV.
On the other hand, President Donald Trump and other officials have pointed to bird’s-eye view footage of the shooting that seems to show the SUV making contact with the ICE agent. Noem revealed that Ross was taken to the hospital after the shooting and was released, while declining to answer whether Ross fired his gun before or after allegedly having been struck by the vehicle, NBC News reports.
Cellphone footage from Ross was released on Friday to show his point of view while filming Good in her vehicle. Before Good is shot, the footage shows her turning her steering wheel to her right as she pulls forward, and the other ICE agent grabs her driver’s side door.
Other federal and state officials have discounted the narrative set by the White House, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who has repeatedly disputed the claims by the Trump administration that Good tried to run over the ICE agent.
“It wants the American public to believe that ICE’s heavily militarized crackdown across this country is an effort to keep cities like Minneapolis safe. It is not. It is about vilifying not just immigrants, but all who welcome them and their contributions to our communities,” Frey writes in his New York Times op-ed.
In Montague Center, the attendees expressed their dismay over Good’s death.
“I don’t know what speechless means in your whole body, but that’s how I feel,” Monosson said about how she’s felt since the shooting.
Julie Kumble, who grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis in the 1970s and 1980s and now lives in Montague Center with her husband Bruce Watson, said she feels a “deep sadness and anger,” which is compounded knowing that George Floyd was murdered by former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin within a few blocks of where Good was shot.
This is also not the only incident of an ICE agent shooting a civilian. Two people were shot by ICE agents in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, nearly 24 hours after Good was killed. A similar shooting occurred in September, with Silverio Villegas González shot and killed by an ICE agent as he allegedly tried to flee in Chicago.
In reflecting on what can be done moving forward, attendees shared that there needs to be continued protest of the Trump administration, even locally.
“It’s nice to see 30 people here in a little town, but there should be people rising up, not just on No Kings Day, but other times for the preservation of democracy,” Watson said from his perspective as a historian of social movements in the United States.
“It’s better than staying home watching the news and reading and doomscrolling,” Goldman said about standing with her neighbors.
On the Greenfield Common at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 10, there will be a protest against ICE organized by Trystan and Arjuna Greist, according to an event notice. Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution (FCCPR) will hold a protest on Sunday, Jan. 11, at noon, also on the Greenfield Common.
When asked about what the best way to remember and honor Good would be, Monosson and Goldman each expressed the need for change in how ICE conducts itself, with Goldman noting that Trump needs to be out of office. Monosson also expressed conflicted feelings over why the 37-year-old mother of three and poet would need to die to spark change.
“I hate to think about it like that,” she said. “Someone should not have to die for that.”