DENVER — It’s been nearly two months since Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in her car in Minneapolis. Neither President Donald Trump nor any member of his administration has been in touch with Good’s family since, they told NBC News on Thursday.
“There’s a reason that we hired our own investigators — to make sure that the truth is transparent and available, to make sure that this is really taken seriously and to make sure that we know what occurred,” Brent Ganger, Good’s brother, said.
Much is already known about the Jan. 7 shooting that set off weeks of protests in Minneapolis, unrest that was compounded after federal officers fatally shot a second person, Alex Pretti, weeks later.
An autopsy commissioned by Good’s family found that she died after she was shot three times, including once in her left temple. A fourth shot grazed her, Good’s family’s lawyers said in a statement last month.
One bullet hit her left forearm and another struck her right breast without piercing major organs. Neither of those wounds appeared to have been immediately life-threatening, the attorneys said.
“We believe the evidence we are gathering and will continue to gather in our investigation will suffice to prove our case,” lead attorney Antonio M. Romanucci said at the time.
These early findings, plus widely reported videos of the incident, contradicted initial reports from the Trump administration and its characterization of Good.
The federal investigation into Good’s death has focused more on whether her partner impeded a federal officer moments before the shooting, and less on the shooting itself or the officer who shot Good, NBC News has reported. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggested not long after the shooting that it had been justified, though there is an internal investigation ongoing.
Noem said Good had “weaponized” her vehicle against law enforcement and that the officer who fired the fatal shots, Jonathan Ross, acted in self-defense.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said in an emailed statement that it is not conducting a use-of-force investigation because it does not have full access to evidence and witnesses. The department is helping the Hennepin County district attorney’s office collect and catalogue information related to Good’s killing, and is also providing evidence to the FBI.
“The BCA remains open to conducting a full investigation of the incident should the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI reconsider their approach and express a willingness to resume a joint investigation or to share all evidence and evidentiary reports held by FBI investigators,” BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said in the statement.
The FBI declined to comment.
At least six prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota have resigned over their concerns with the direction of the probe. The Justice Department also opened an investigation into the public comments made by Democratic politicians in Minnesota, who have criticized ICE’s tactics, a probe the officials say is purely political.
With so much attention on her death and subsequent violence in Minneapolis, Good’s family said it has been nearly impossible to avoid the images on social media or in the news. Still, they have intentionally decided not to watch videos of the moment she was killed by an ICE agent on Jan. 7.
“I can’t bring myself to do that,” her brother, Brent Ganger, said. Her father, Tim Ganger, added that they have “intentionally just let that go.”
Instead, her family says they are choosing to focus on the Good they know.
“We’re the ones who know Renee. No one else knows Renee,” Good’s brother, Luke Ganger, said. “There’s a bunch of opinions and whatever, but we’re the ones who know her, and those other things aren’t going to change that.”
Holding a small stuffed animal gifted to her by her daughter, Good’s mother, Donna Ganger, said there is one powerful moment she has watched.
“The only thing I saw of that day was her saying, “‘I’m not mad at you’” to her shooter, Ganger said.
They described Good as a kind, caring and gentle person who loved to laugh, sing and raise her children. She was drawn to Minneapolis, in part, because of its strong sense of community and reputation as a place where neighbors care for neighbors, her family said.
“They have their narrative. I think they have to support their narrative,” said Good’s father, Timothy Ganger. “We’ll just let that go and really get back to focusing on who we know Renee was to our family.”
“She was a gift to our family,” he added.
When asked about her political activism, Good’s father said she was more interested in helping people who were less fortunate.
“That was a huge thing to her,” he said. “Caring for people is really where her heart was at.”
Many people in her community seemed to agree. A groundswell of outrage over Good’s killing emerged after witness videos showed her attempting to drive away from Ross, not toward him. Thousands of people in Minneapolis flooded city streets in support of Good, triggering nationwide solidarity protests and casting a dark shadow over Trump’s immigration policies.
Weeks later, after Pretti’s killing, Trump told “NBC’s Nightly News” that federal agents could use a “softer touch” during enforcement operations.
“I learned that maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch. But you still have to be tough,” Trump said in an interview with anchor Tom Llamas. “We’re dealing with really hard criminals. But look, I’ve called the people. I’ve called the governor. I’ve called the mayor. Spoke to ‘em. Had great conversations with them.”
The president, however, has not called the Good family, they said.
Instead, strangers from all over the world have offered their support and condolences in recent weeks. When the Gangers arrived in Minneapolis, neighbors and community members welcomed them like old relatives, they said. A church in California mailed several cards to Good’s mother, Donna Ganger, reminding her that she wasn’t alone, that other people were grieving, too, she said.
“I felt the overwhelming peace that God said, ‘I’ve got Renee. It’s OK. I’m gonna walk with your family through this. You’re not gonna be alone,’” Donna Ganger said while holding a stuffed owl Good had given her.
“We have been very consciously grateful for having Renee and having her in our lives for 37 years,” she added. “It changes your perspective when you’re grateful.”
Of the officer who killed her daughter, Ganger said that she prays for him and his family because they are “suffering through this too.”
“This world can be so hard and so beautiful at the same time,” Ganger said. “We make changes by seeing people differently and praying for people maybe that we wouldn’t normally pray for. So I’ve been praying for him and his family.”
