Family of Renee Good sues US government and Trump officials over her death

By Whitney Wild, Rebekah Riess, CNN

(CNN) — The family of an American woman shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has filed two civil lawsuits related to her death, according to court records filed Thursday in Minnesota federal court.

Renee Good was killed January 7 by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis during the height of the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Metro Surge, prompting significant protest in the city and sparking national outrage.

“The hole in my family and myself, created by my sister’s passing, is hauntingly apparent,” Good’s brother and plaintiff, Brent Ganger, said at a Thursday news conference announcing the lawsuits.

“Since Renee’s death, no meaningful change has occurred. The deaths of innocent Americans by taxpayer-funded government agents should not be a partisan issue, and it should alarm every American.”

One lawsuit names the United States of America as the sole defendant under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a federal law that allows people to sue the US government for personal injury, property damage or death, caused by alleged negligence of federal employees acting within their job duties.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory damages for Good’s partner, who witnessed the shooting, and “for 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,” the family’s attorneys said in a statement.

In January, attorneys sent letters to the federal agencies connected with Good’s death, notifying them of their intention to pursue legal action. Under FTCA guidelines, they waited six months for a response, which could be a denial, agreement to payment, or simply a non-response, attorney Sarah Raisch said.

“We are here today because we have not heard from the government, either that they will accept the claim, or not,” attorney Antonio Romanucci said.

A tort lawsuit against the federal government, from guilt or innocence to the amount of a potential award, is typically decided by a federal judge.

In their second lawsuit, Good’s family alleges, among other things, Operation Metro Surge was “a carefully planned, coordinated effort between senior federal officials and private actors” to interfere with the civil rights of Minnesotans of Somali and Hispanic descent and origin, and to silence “the neighbors and allies of those targeted communities who observed, documented, and warned of that campaign.”

The suit names Ross, ten John Doe federal agents, and several current and former Trump administration officials as defendants, including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, White House border czar Tom Homan, former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and Greg Bovino, the former Border Patrol official who led the administration’s immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis.

White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said the Trump administration intends “to vigorously defend these baseless civil lawsuits.”

Bis also pointed to President Donald Trump’s remarks to CBS News about Good from January, in which he said “I love all of our people … and I would bet you that she, under normal circumstances, was a very solid, wonderful person. But, you know, her actions were pretty tough.” Trump also defended ICE, saying the job of federal agents was “being made very difficult.”

CNN has reached out to DHS, and phone numbers listed under Noem’s name for comment. Bovino declined to comment about the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges the shots fired by Ross were “the predictable and intended product of the operation,” according to the family’s attorneys.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

‘Like trying to live without the sun’

Good’s partner and plaintiff, Becca Good, spoke publicly for the first time since the deadly shooting took place. During the Thursday news conference, she called Good “the center” of her universe and spoke about taking their 6-year-old son to first grade without her.

“Living without her is like trying to live without the sun. And you don’t know how much light something gives you until it’s gone, and then you feel that absence every single second,” she said, becoming emotional.

Renee Good loved her three children, her partner said, and enjoyed reading them books, and talking about music and comics with them.

“Every morning, she is my first thought. I think about how the kids are growing up without their mama, and how I’ll grow old without the love of my life,” she said. “But I also think a lot about what she would have wanted after all of this.”

Becca Good said the family is pursuing legal action because “Renee’s love and legacy demand a better world for her children, for this community, and for this country.”

“What happened to us should never happen to any family,” Good said. “Accountability and change — true accountability — is the only way to make sure that no other family has to go through what we have.”

“I don’t hate the people who took Renee from us, but what I want them to understand is – every single day, they get to look at their children, and their wives, and their sisters, and know what they took from our family,” Good said. “They took a mother away from her children. They know that, and they will carry it forever.”

How the deadly shooting unfolded in Minneapolis

Good, a mother of three, had just finished dropping her 6-year-old son off at school when she encountered ICE agents.

The moments leading up to the shooting were captured by bystanders as well as Ross, a 10-year ICE veteran, whose cellphone video starts with him in front of Good’s burgundy SUV. The vehicle was stopped for a few minutes perpendicular to a snowy residential Minneapolis street, obstructing the flow of traffic.

Ross did not say anything as he walked from the front of the car toward the driver’s side.

Good then addressed Ross, the video shows.

“That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you,” she says. Ross didn’t respond.

Becca Good was standing outside the car and said “show your face” to Ross, whose masked reflection is seen on the vehicle’s windows as he continues walking around it. Becca Good holds her cellphone up, seemingly recording Ross, and tells him, “You wanna come at us? You wanna come at us? I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy.”

She then tries to get back into the car, but the door is locked.

Another officer then tells Renee Good to “get out of the f**king car.”

Renee Good is then seen reversing the car and glancing forward as she turns the steering wheel to the right. The car moves forward, Ross cries out, “whoa,” and three gunshots are heard. Good was shot shortly after 9:30 a.m., according to a news release from the city government.

The video filmed by Ross captured audio of gunshots but doesn’t show the actual moment of the shooting, though other video from bystanders shows Ross was standing out of the vehicle’s path when he opened fire. He fired first into her windshield and then at close range through the open driver’s side window, videos show.

The end of Ross’s video shows the SUV as it barrels forward. Someone can be heard saying, “f**king b*tch.”

DHS later said Good “weaponized her vehicle” to run over an officer near an ICE vehicle.

The search for accountability for the shooting remains ongoing. In March, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and two state agencies sued the Trump administration for access to evidence in Good’s shooting death as well as the death of Alex Pretti, who was killed by DHS agents in January.

In July, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced the Department of Justice had provided a trove of materials related to both shootings to state investigators. No charges have been filed in either case.

This story has been updated with additional information.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.