The killing of a 37-year-old mother by a federal agent in Minneapolis is a shocking and inexcusable act of violence. And just as chilling, it’s another episode of the Trump administration telling the American public not to believe our own eyes.

From President Donald Trump to White House officials down the ladder, their story has been the same: The woman was trying to mow down Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers with her vehicle, and an agent’s decision to shoot was justifiable self-defense.

But video footage captured by witnesses contradicts that account. The woman’s SUV was blocking a one-way street. An ICE agent screamed at the woman, Renee Nicole Good, to “get out of the car,” using an expletive. Another agent crosses the woman’s path and, as she appears to attempt to leave, fires into the vehicle three times.

Trump has pointed to a grainy video from afar that shows the SUV driving forward before crashing into a parked car. It’s unclear from that video whether Good hits the ICE agent, as White House officials have alleged.

But in frame-by-frame analyses of footage from closer to the scene, The New York Times and The Washington Post show that Good was veering past the ICE agent when he shot her, once from the front and two more times from the side of the vehicle.

The agent, who according to Trump officials was hit and had to go to the hospital, can be seen in the video walking away, seemingly unharmed. Video from the scene shows Good slumped in her seat, bloody and unresponsive.

As The Associated Press recently reported, law enforcement agencies generally bar officers from shooting at moving vehicles unless the driver poses an imminent threat of deadly force beyond the car itself. The risks are great: An officer could accidentally shoot an innocent person or cause the driver to lose control and injure or kill bystanders.

In the Minneapolis case, Good’s vehicle crashed against a parked car after the ICE agent fatally shot her. Thankfully, no one else was injured.

It’s unclear why Good was partially blocking the street, or what her motivations were. Reasonable people can debate her actions, but no one in good faith can argue persuasively that she deserved to be killed. The video shows she wasn’t running over ICE agents; her front wheels were pointed away from them as she began to drive slowly forward.

White House officials should have held their tongues and promised an investigation. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said there will be an inquiry, but how can we trust its conclusions, when Trump, Noem and others have already made up their minds that this was self-defense?

Trump and his coterie of yes-men and -women have poured gasoline on fire, inflaming an already tense situation. We suspect their reckless comments will ratchet up anger against ICE, endangering its agents, and further erode Americans’ sense of safety and trust in their government.

Who will defend us against the notion that federal agents can shoot first and ask questions later? Not this president.

ONLINE: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2026/01/09/after-ice-killing-of-woman-in-minneapolis-trump-excuses-the-inexcusable/