The ICE agent bodycam footage shows a calm, unarmed woman moments before she was shot three times in the head, raising serious concerns about police brutality, abuse of power, and democracy in the United States.
The killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has sparked widespread outrage across the United States. Newly released ICE agent bodycam video documents the final moments before the shooting, showing a calm, non-aggressive woman sitting in her car. The footage contradicts official claims and raises serious questions about police brutality, abuse of power, and human rights violations.
The killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, a city in the state of Minnesota, United States, is now widely known. Numerous videos have circulated—and continue to emerge—documenting the entire incident, from the stop and the order to exit the vehicle to the three gunshots fired at her head. The sequence of events is unmistakably clear: the ICE agent chose to kill her, without any valid reason. There is no alternative interpretation that can reasonably be drawn from the footage, which shows the woman sitting in her car, calm and composed, not aggressive in the slightest.
The car was stationary. She then put it into gear to leave; a vehicle starting from a standstill and moving less than a meter cannot reasonably be considered a threat to anyone. If the goal had truly been to stop her, the agent could have fired at the tires or anywhere else. Three shots to the head indicate a clear intent to kill. A recently released video even captures the agent, after killing her, shouting “fing bch,” openly insulting the victim. This detail further reinforces allegations of police brutality and abuse of power.
The Distortion of Reality
Predictably, the version of events being pushed by Donald Trump and his loyal followers claims that Good was a dangerous agitator who ran over the poor agent—now allegedly in critical condition—using her car as a weapon. The killer agent is granted total impunity, while the woman who was shot dead is labeled a terrorist. In reality, she was simply sitting in her car near her own home. Unsurprisingly, claims that the agent suffered serious injuries are entirely false.
All of this is almost impossible to believe, especially the brazen manipulation of facts. Today, the world feels more Orwellian than ever: not only are we witnessing violent raids and deportations, but it is now possible to kill a person in the street, rewrite the narrative, and remain unpunished. This case has become emblematic of growing concerns about human rights violations in the United States.
“Just Following Orders”
Even more shocking are the reactions of many Italians, some of whom appear to almost take pleasure in the killing. We know that when a police officer kills someone in Italy—and it does happen—there is always a significant portion of the public ready to defend the officer, claiming they were “just doing their job.” This reflexive support for law enforcement now seems to extend overseas: he told her to stop, she didn’t—what else was he supposed to do? The supposed logical and inevitable outcome, apparently, is murder.
This attitude also stems from widespread ignorance about how U.S. law enforcement actually works. Many Italians seem convinced that in America the police can kill anyone over a minor infraction, and that citizens who do not comply are somehow asking for it. This is false. Moreover, ICE is not the police. ICE agents can stop and detain someone only if they have reasonable suspicion that the person is an undocumented immigrant—a practice that is itself deeply troubling. If the individual is a U.S. citizen, detention is lawful only if they interfere with an arrest or assault an officer. In no case are agents free to kill at will. There must be a real and imminent threat—one that, in this case, was entirely fabricated.
An Attack on Democracy
Beyond the specifics of American law, what is truly chilling is that, when watching that bodycam video of the Minneapolis shooting, instead of feeling shock or disbelief, some people’s first reaction is: she deserved it. This is a form of gratuitous cruelty, projected onto the first unfortunate victim that comes along. Beyond the deeply troubling human aspect, it is alarming how casually people accept the idea that, in a supposedly democratic state, individuals can be rounded up and killed in the street.
Under the guise of “respecting the rules,” news like this is consumed with indifference—perhaps reassured by the belief that I would have obeyed orders, it wouldn’t have happened to me. This line of thinking is not only naïve and foolish, it completely misses the point.
If we are incapable of recognizing serious warning signs simply because they do not affect us directly, and if we comfort ourselves by believing that being “good citizens” guarantees safety, how can we remain vigilant about the state of our own democracy? The answer is: we don’t. And so we continue to underestimate and normalize the madness imposed upon us, one abuse at a time.
