Why Renee Good's Partner Is Struggling with Guilt After Her Death – The Full Story

The death of Renee Good has reignited public outrage over the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across the United States.

The wife of Renee Good, 37, who was shot and killed by ICE in Minnesota on Wednesday, January 7, was filmed during the encounter. Footage from the scene captures her visibly distraught, with her words suggesting she is struggling with overwhelming guilt following the loss of her loved one.

Video Shows Emotional Reaction of Good's Partner

Good's partner was recording from outside the vehicle when Good was fatally shot. In another clip, she is seen following behind federal agents with her phone as they approach Good's red Honda Pilot, which was blocking the middle of the road.

She did not immediately register the gunshots fired by an ICE agent. Moments later, she ran after the vehicle as it sped away before crashing into cars further up the street.

In the aftermath of the shooting, footage shows Good's wife slumped on the ground, her dog sitting beside her as she cried uncontrollably. "I made her come down here, it's my fault," the woman said. "They just shot my wife," she added.

It remains unclear whether Good and her partner lived in the neighborhood where ICE was carrying out an operation at the time of the shooting.

The video, filmed by a bystander outside his home, shows him asking the now-widow if there was anyone he could call on her behalf. "I have a six-year-old at school… we're new here, we don't have anyone," she said in response.

Dispute Erupts over Circumstances Surrounding Good's Death

Another video from the aftermath shows a man identifying himself as a doctor attempting to provide assistance to Good. However, ICE agents refused his help, saying their own EMT team was handling the situation.

Life-saving measures were performed at the scene, but the mom of three was later pronounced dead at the hospital. The officer who fatally shot Good received backing from the Trump administration, which characterized the action as self-defense.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that the officers were conducting lawful enforcement operations. Noem described Good's actions as an attempted act of domestic terrorism by trying to run over the officer.

President Donald Trump added that Good had violently struck the ICE officer while obstructing and resisting authorities. In response, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey strongly rejected the administration's account. He condemned ICE's presence in the city and emphasized that its operations were causing more harm than safety.

Frey called for the agency to leave Minneapolis immediately, asserting that the community did not want them there.

Meanwhile, online reactions have poured in after it emerged that Good had just dropped her six-year-old off at elementary school when the encounter with ICE occurred. One user expressed sympathy, "Prayers for her child, I'm sure the child is hurting and so is her family."

Another commenter wrote, "My condolences to her family and child that poor child 😢 💔." A third voice acknowledged the tragedy but added added a controversial opinion, "Sorry for the kids. But she should have stayed home."

A Community in Mourning and a City Demanding Justice

Family, friends, and neighbors of Good have also spoken out, mourning a woman they remembered as gentle, kind, and openhearted. Good had two children from her first marriage, a daughter and a son now aged 15 and 12, and a six-year-old son from her second marriage.

She, her youngest son, and her wife had only recently moved to Minneapolis from Kansas City, Missouri. The family settled on a quiet residential street lined with older homes and multifamily buildings, some with front porches still decorated with pride flags and twinkling holiday lights.

On Thursday, a few dozen people gathered on the one-way street where Good was killed, using steel drums filled with burning wood for warmth as freezing rain fell. Passersby paused to pay their respects at a makeshift memorial, leaving bouquets of flowers and a hand-crafted cross.

By the day after her death, neighbors had grown weary of speaking to reporters, with a handwritten sign on one front door reading "NO MEDIA INQUIRES" and "JUSTICE FOR RENEE."

Good's Life Beyond the Headlines

Far from the kind of criminal targets Trump had said his immigration crackdown would focus on, Good was a U.S. citizen born in Colorado and apparently had no criminal record beyond a single traffic ticket.

On social media, Good described herself as a "poet and writer and wife and mom" and shared that she was "experiencing Minneapolis," accompanied by a pride emoji on her Instagram account. Her Pinterest profile picture shows her smiling, holding a young child against her cheek, alongside posts about tattoos, hairstyles, and home decorating.

Her ex-husband, who requested anonymity to protect their children, said Good was not an activist and had never participated in protests. He described her as a devoted Christian who, in her youth, took part in mission trips to Northern Ireland.

She loved to sing, participating in a high school chorus and studying vocal performance in college. He added that while Good had been primarily a stay-at-home mom in recent years, she previously worked as a dental assistant and at a credit union. She also hosted a podcast with her second husband, who passed away in 2023.

Donna Ganger, Good's mother, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the family was notified of her death late Wednesday morning. Ganger added, "Renee was one of the kindest people I've ever known. She was extremely compassionate. She's taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving, and affectionate. She was an amazing human being."

Renee Good studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Virginia, winning a prize in 2020 for one of her works, according to the school's English department Facebook page.

Kent Wascom, who taught Good in Old Dominion's creative writing program, recalled her juggling work and school while caring for her child in 2019. He described her as "incredibly caring of her peers."

Wascom noted, "What stood out to me in her prose was that, unlike a lot of young fiction writers, her focus was outward rather than inward. A creative writing workshop can be a gnarly place with a lot of egos and competition, but her presence was something that helped make that classroom a really supportive place."

In a separate incident last year (2025), armed ICE agents carried out a controversial arrest in Massachusetts. As reported previously, Bruna Caroline Ferreira, a Brazilian-born woman and the mother of Karoline Leavitt's nephew, was arrested just outside Boston in a heavily armed ICE takedown on November 12, 2025.

The footage was released weeks later, and as it began circulating online, many netizens questioned whether it was truly about immigration or something far more personal.

Tactical Arrest Caught on Camera

The video, released by TMZ on December 3, began like any ordinary daily moment. A silver sedan was seen driving toward the exit of a condo parking lot in Revere, Massachusetts. It was around 12:30 p.m.

But within seconds, everything went wrong. Multiple SUVs barreled into the frame, boxing in the car. Agents leapt out with weapons raised, aiming toward the driver's side.

Ferreira stepped out and, without resistance, was immediately handcuffed and led away by officers. Another agent climbed into her vehicle, and soon after, all the cars pulled away.

Online Backlash and Bold Accusations

With tensions already high around immigration enforcement and the administration's policies, it didn't take long for netizens to unleash a storm of speculation, and fingers were quickly pointed.

"That was a Set up. I don't care what nobody say [sic]," one person declared. "Set up for sure. They knew what car she was in 😭🥴," another agreed.

Then came the accusations.

"Her brother wanted full custody and mom out of the country!" someone claimed. Another netizen didn't hold back, alleging, "Karoline called them on her own nephew's mother smh [sic]." "Mm I'm sure she called so her brother could keep custody [sic]," another echoed.

One netizen furiously exploded, "THEY CALLED ON HER. DISGUSTING!"

A Legal War in the Process

While speculation continued online, the reality was that Ferreira was facing a serious legal battle. A representative from the DHS told reporters that she had been in the U.S. illegally since June 1999, allegedly overstaying a tourist visa. The agency also claimed she had a prior arrest for battery.

But Ferreira's attorney, Todd Pomerleau, quickly pushed back.

He insisted that Ferreira had no criminal record and was not in the country illegally, as she was protected under DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), a program that shields individuals brought to the U.S. as children from deportation.

The problem was that Ferreira wasn't able to renew her status during President Donald Trump's first term, when legal challenges and executive action threatened to dismantle DACA entirely.

Although the Supreme Court later ruled those efforts invalid, some recipients, including Ferreira, were still caught in the crosshairs of the current administration's ICE detentions.

Pomerleau said Ferreira was actively in the process of obtaining legal citizenship, but at the time, she remained detained at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center. That's more than 1,500 miles from where she was arrested, and 80 miles from Baton Rouge.

The Custody Matter

According to CNN sources, Leavitt's nephew had always lived full-time with his father in New Hampshire. Ferreira and Leavitt's brother, who were previously engaged, shared joint custody of the 11-year-old.

Pomerleau said Ferreira was on her way to pick up her son the day of the arrest. He added that she reportedly hadn't spoken to Leavitt in years, making the family dynamics even murkier.

Meanwhile, Leavitt's brother told WMUR, a CNN affiliate, that their son had a fair relationship with Ferreira, but that the two hadn't seen each other since the arrest. He said he only wanted what was best for his son.