Renee Good's family files civil lawsuits against U.S., federal agents
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The family of Renee Good has filed two civil lawsuits in the wake of her killing by a federal agent during Operation Metro Surge.
The lawsuits are against the United States, individual federal agents and officials for the January shooting and death of Good.
The lawsuits name Jonathan Ross — the agent who fatally shot Good — as well as current and former Trump administration officials, including Greg Bovino, Kristi Noem, Tom Homan and Stephen Miller.
“What happened to us should never happen to any family. No child should grow up without a parent because of it. No one should lose their sister or their daughter. No one should have to live without their soulmate. Accountability — real accountability — is the only way to make sure that no other family has to go through what we have,” Renee Good’s partner, Becca Good, said in a statement announcing the lawsuits on Thursday. Becca Good was at the scene when her partner was killed.
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The law firms Romanucci & Blandin, LLC and Riach Law are representing Good’s family.
“The day of accountability has arrived for our own U.S. government and its governmental agencies,” attorney Antonio Romanucci told reporters Thursday after filing the lawsuits. “Our government is killing our citizens without any legal justification.”
The lawsuits seek damages “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.”
Messages left with the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security, seeking response to the lawsuits, were not immediately returned.
Renee Good was shot and killed inside her vehicle on the morning of Jan. 7 in south Minneapolis, near East 34th Street and Portland Avenue.
Federal authorities quickly called the shooting justified, saying 37-year-old Good tried to run down ICE agents with her vehicle and that the agent — later identified as Jonathan Ross — fired to protect his life and the lives of other officers.
Bystander video, however, contradicted that narrative. Eyewitnesses said agents gave Good conflicting orders about whether to stay or go, and that she appeared to just want to leave the scene.
A neighborhood resident and witness to the shooting told MPR News that Good “posed absolutely no threat to any of these agents.”
Vigils for Good popped up across Minnesota that evening as the state found itself at the center of a national debate on immigration enforcement.
Two and a half weeks later, federal agents in Minneapolis shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 near 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Pretti was armed with a handgun, that a struggle ensued as agents tried to subdue him and that an agent “fired defensive shots.” But video and eyewitness testimony again disputed federal officials’ account.
This is a developing story. More reporting to come.
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