There has been an outpouring of grief for the “amazing” poet Renee Nicole Good, after she was shot dead by ICE agents in Minnesota on Wednesday.
Born in Colorado Springs, the 37-year-old mother-of-three was killed after her vehicle blocked a street during an active ICE operation.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has claimed that officers were forced to open fire because Good had “engaged in domestic terrorism.”
Noem said that Good rammed her vehicle into officers while leaving the scene, although this version of events has been disputed.
Good’s mother, Donna Granger, referred to her daughter as “one of the kindest people I’ve ever known” in an interview with The Minnesota Star-Tribune. She added that Good was “not part” of any organized protests against ICE.
“She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life,” Granger said. “She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”
Her father, Tim Granger, echoed Donna’s sentiment. Speaking to The Washington Post, he said that his daughter had a “good life, but a hard life.”
Donna later told The Daily Telegraph that her late daughter was living in Minneapolis with her wife, Becca Good.
The pair had initially lived in Kansas City, Missouri, before moving to Canada. The northward move had been motivated by Trump winning the 2024 presidential election, former neighbor Joan Rose told KMBC News.
They returned to the U.S. just months later to live in Minneapolis.
Speaking to KMBC, Rose said her former neighbor was “not an extremist.”
“A neighbor who, you know, is not a terrorist,” she said. “Not an extremist. That was just a mom who loved her kids, loved her spouse.”
Rose said that she learned Renee had been killed, after another neighbor recognized her.
“When my neighbor says I recognize her, that’s Renee screaming, that sends chills down my spine,” Rose said.
According to records obtained by the Daily Mail, Good worked for B. Good Handywirk LLC, which is her wife’s household maintenance business. Both women were registered as managers of the firm, which was run out of a rent home in Texas.
The Honda Pilot car driven by Renee when she was shot by ICE agents was registered at the same address, according to the Mail.
Before tying the knot with Becca, Renee was married to Tim Ray Macklin Jr, the father of her youngest child.
Macklin Jr, who had spent 14 years in the U.S. Air Force before retiring and pursuing stand-up comedy, later died in 2023, according to his obituary. The couple even hosted a podcast together for a period. His father has called the couple’s child an “orphan” in the wake of Wednesday’s shooting.
Good remarried and took her wife’s surname that same year, according to records seen by The Kansas City Star.
Timmy Ray Macklin Sr, her late husband’s father, confirmed to The Telegraph that he plans to travel to Minnesota to collect his grandson.
“My main concern right now is getting my grandchild,” he said.
“It is horrible, it’s murder. Everybody is terribly shocked right now,” he added, referencing Good’s killing. “She was a good, outgoing person. I didn’t agree with a lot of her ways, but it’s really sad to see these things happen.”
In a separate interview with the Star-Tribune, he confirmed that Good also had two other children who lived with her extended family.
Mary Radford, one of Good’s neighbors, told the newspaper that the late 37-year-old had a “beautiful family.”
“They have a son. He’s very sweet. He loves our dog. He always has to go run up and pet and play with her,” she said. “They’re always outside playing.”
Radford told the newspaper that she was “gonna miss seeing them,” and that she was concerned for Good’s son.
“It is so painful to think about how he’s gonna fare in his life,” she said. “And I just can’t even imagine what that family is going through.”
Good was known for her creative endeavours, describing herself as a “poet and a writer” on an Instagram account that appeared to belong to her. She also described herself as a “s****y guitar strummer.”
According to the Facebook page for Norfolk, Virginia-based Old Dominion University English Department, she won an undergraduate poetry prize in 2020 for a work titled "On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs."
“When she is not writing, reading or talking about writing, she has movie marathons and makes messy art,” the English Department’s post continued.
Speaking to The Washington Post, ODU’s president, Brian O. Hemphill, said that Good had graduated with a degree in English in 2020.
“This is yet another clear example that fear and violence have sadly become commonplace in our nation,” he added. “May Renee’s life be a reminder of what unites us: freedom, love, and peace.”
Her shooting has sparked fury from local officials, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey delivering a stark message to the ICE agents sent to the city by Trump.
“Get the f*** out,” he said.
“This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed,” he continued.
His fury has been echoed by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who tore into a DHS statement about Good’s killing.
“I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine,” Walz wrote on X. “The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”
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