FBI takes investigation of killing of US citizen by ICE officer and revokes Minnesota’s access to materials | ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

The FBI has taken full control of the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Macklin Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) officer in Minneapolis, it emerged on Thursday.

In a statement, the Minneosta Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said it was initially called upon to help investigate the shooting before federal officials “reversed course” and said the case would be solely led by the FBI. As it now no longer has access to the case materials, witnesses and evidence, the BCA said it had “reluctantly” withdrawn from the investigation.

As tensions escalated in the city, authorities in Minneapolis had canceled school classes across the city on Thursday amid safety concerns and rising political tension after the US citizen was killed by a federal agent during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation.

A demonstration attended by thousands on Wednesday night went peacefully after the fatal shooting hours earlier.

Scores of people bundled up in heavy coats gathered in a parking lot near a building that houses several federal agencies, including an immigration court. The crowd was chanting and holding American flags and signs calling on ICE to leave Minnesota.
Police at one point threw devices releasing smoke to break up the crowd, which carried signs and shouted profanities at them.

One of the protestors, Patrick Riley, told the Associated Press: “We are peacefully demonstrating. We’re trying to let this organization know that they’re not welcome.”

But emotions remained high in the city – and across the US – as the Trump administration continued to portray the victim, who was shot multiple times as she drove away from a group of officers, as a “domestic terrorist” bent on running them over.

“Trump wants a show. Don’t give it to him,” Tim Walz, Minnesota’s Democratic governor, posted on X Wednesday night, urging protesters to remain calm. He said he had issued a “warning order” for possible deployment of the Minnesota national guard.

Ilhan Omar posted on social media Thursday morning that thousands had gathered to honor the victim last night, and that “ICE needs to get out of Minneapolis”.

“We will never accept that a single federal agent can be judge, jury and executioner in our streets,” the Minnesota congresswoman said.

Jacob Frey, the Minneapolis mayor, made several appearances on television networks Wednesday night calling for peaceful protests and doubling down on his comments at a press conference earlier in the day in which he called for ICE “to get the fuck out of Minneapolis”.

“People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart. Long-term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy are being terrorized, and now, somebody is dead,” Frey said.

He said the homeland security department was already “trying to spin this as an action of self-defense”, a claim he said was “bullshit”.

Some Republicans seized on Frey’s comments as incendiary, with Nancy Mace, a South Carolina congresswoman, calling for the resignation of the mayor and Walz.

Yet much of the political rhetoric continued to come from the White House, with Donald Trump telling reporters from the New York Times on Wednesday night that Macklin Good, a mother of a six-year-old son, was at fault.

“She behaved horribly,” said Trump, who posted to Truth Social earlier in the day without evidence that she “viciously ran over the ICE Officer”.

“And then she ran him over. She didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over,” the president said.

Video of the confrontation, however, showed the agent remaining on his feet and walking away apparently uninjured after the woman’s car had crashed into a lamp-post and a parked vehicle.

Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said the woman had been “stalking” the ICE agents and blocking traffic, another claim not supported by the video, which showed her initially reversing and allowing at least one ICE vehicle to pass.

Noem also stated that ICE operations would continue in Minneapolis, which saw a surge of about 2,000 federal agents this week to target immigrant populations.

Residents in the city, which has a large Somali population, described the mood as “on edge and angry” on Thursday, with more demonstrations planned for later in the day.

Anti-ICE protests took place in a number of US cities on Wednesday after news of the incident spread, and more are scheduled for Thursday, including in New York, Houston and San Diego.