In a raw, tear-filled public statement delivered just 30 minutes ago outside her Minneapolis home, **Donna Ganger**, mother of **Renee Nicole Good**, shattered the official narrative surrounding her daughter’s death and laid bare the profound human cost of a fatal encounter with federal agents. Choking back sobs, Ganger declared: “She wasn’t a threat. She was a mother. A poet. A person who should have come home.”

The words, delivered amid a growing national outcry, came as Ganger revealed the heartbreaking details of her daughter’s final phone call—seven words that have since stunned the United States and fueled demands for accountability in the January 7, 2026, shooting of the 37-year-old U.S. citizen by an **Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)** agent.

Renee Nicole Good, a beloved mother of three, award-winning poet, writer, and community member, was fatally shot three times—many reports indicate wounds to the head and face—while behind the wheel of her maroon Honda Pilot on a snowy residential street in south Minneapolis. The incident unfolded during an intensified ICE enforcement operation in the city, part of a broader federal immigration crackdown that has seen hundreds of agents deployed amid allegations of welfare fraud in local immigrant communities.

According to eyewitness accounts, video footage, and statements from local officials, Good had just dropped off her 6-year-old son at school and was driving home with her wife, Rebecca (Becca) Good, when their vehicle crossed paths with unmarked ICE vehicles. Good stopped perpendicularly in the street to allow agents to pass, motioning them forward in a gesture of courtesy. But tensions escalated rapidly.

Cellphone video from bystanders and, controversially, a 47-second clip reportedly recorded by the shooting agent, **Jonathan Ross**—a 10-year ICE veteran previously dragged by a vehicle in a separate incident—shows Good calmly engaging with officers. In her final recorded words, she told Ross, “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you. I’m not mad at any of you,” before attempting to drive away as agents approached her door.

Federal officials, including **Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem** and President Donald Trump, have defended the shooting, claiming Good “weaponized” her vehicle in an attempt to run over agents in an act of “domestic terrorism.” Ross was reportedly treated for minor injuries after being “hit by the vehicle” and later released. Trump described Good as a “professional agitator” and “high-level troublemaker,” while Vice President JD Vance shared the agent’s video on social media to bolster the self-defense claim.

Yet local leaders, eyewitnesses, and independent analyses paint a starkly different picture. Minneapolis Mayor **Jacob Frey** called the federal account “bullshit” after reviewing footage, urging ICE to “get the f*** out of Minneapolis.” Minnesota Governor **Tim Walz** proclaimed January 9, 2026, as “Renee Good Day” and joined calls for transparency. An ABC News metadata review suggested Good turned her wheel away from Ross just over one second before the first shots, with only 399 milliseconds between the first two rounds.

Ganger’s statement today cuts through the political firestorm to the personal devastation. In an emotional address flanked by family, friends, and supporters holding signs reading “Justice for Renee” and “American Mom Murdered by ICE,” she spoke of the last time she heard her daughter’s voice.

“Renee called me that morning after dropping off her little boy,” Ganger said, her voice breaking. “She was laughing about the snow, talking about plans for the weekend. Then she said, ‘Mom, there are these agents everywhere. It’s scary, but I’m okay. I love you.’ Those were her last words to me—‘I love you.’ Seven words that will haunt me forever.”

The revelation has ignited fresh grief and outrage nationwide. Good, who described herself on social media as a “poet and writer and wife and mom and shitty guitar strummer,” had recently moved to Minneapolis from Kansas City (after time in Colorado and elsewhere following the 2023 death of her second husband). She was known for her compassion, having cared for others throughout her life, and for her award-winning poetry that celebrated love, family, and kindness.

Her wife, Becca Good, released a poignant tribute describing Renee as “pure love” who “sparkled” and lived to teach their son that “all of us deserve compassion and kindness.” Vigils and protests have erupted across the U.S., with chants of “Say her name: Renee Good” echoing in cities from coast to coast. Makeshift memorials of flowers, candles, and signs dot the shooting site, where Good lived just blocks away.

The FBI leads the investigation, though Minnesota officials have raised concerns about impartiality after the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was reportedly sidelined. Calls for an independent probe grow louder amid questions about ICE’s use-of-force policies and oversight.

Donna Ganger concluded her statement with a plea: “My daughter was not a terrorist. She was terrified, trying to get home to her children. She was kind, loving, forgiving. She deserved to come home. We all deserve answers, justice, and an end to this fear.”

As protests continue peacefully in Minneapolis despite some arrests, Renee Nicole Good’s story—once a quiet life of poetry, parenting, and community—has become a flashpoint in America’s immigration debate, reminding the nation of the human faces behind the headlines.