Renee Good, a queer mother of three children, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last January. Now, her partner Becca Good has filed two lawsuits seeking to hold the agent, senior Trump administration officials, and the U.S. government accountable so that “no other family has to go through what we have.”
At the time of Renee’s death, Becca and Renee were raising a 6-year-old who had “already lost his father,” Becca said at the time. (His father was Renee’s second husband, who died in 2023.) Renee also had a 12- and a 15-year-old from a previous marriage, living with other family.
Becca is a plaintiff in the lawsuits, along with Renee’s brother Brent Ganger as trustee for Renee’s next of kin, who include not only Becca but her three children, her parents, and her siblings, according to their lawyers, Romanucci & Blandin, LLC. One of the two complaints is a wrongful death suit that names the United States of America as the sole defendant. The lawyers explain that when a federal officer harms someone, “the clearest path to accountability” requires filing a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), waiting six months, and filing a civil complaint, “which can only name the United States, and not the individual, as a defendant.”
ICE Agent Jonathan Ross, who shot Renee, isn’t dodging a lawsuit, however. The second suit alleges “a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights by senior federal officials, federal immigration enforcement agents, and private actors.” It names Ross as well as senior administration officials Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Corey R. Lewandowski, Thomas D. Homan, Todd Lyons, Gregory Bovino, plus 10 unnamed federal agents, “for their respective individual roles in the operation that led to Renee’s death.” Among other things, the suit cites parts of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which “was designed to empower the federal government to protect the civil and political rights of individuals,” as the U.S. House’s website explains.
That’s important. Becca and her lawyers make it clear that they believe Renee’s death was not simply because of one person’s action, but rather because of conspiracy and discrimination at the highest levels of power in the U.S. government. Senior Attorney Benjamin A. Berkman explained:
We seek accountability for the unconscionable and unconstitutional use of force by a federal agent that killed Renee on January 7th. But we also seek accountability for the discriminatory and violent operation that placed Jonathan Ross on Portland Avenue that day. Those in the highest rungs of power authorized armed, masked men to terrorize Minnesotans on the basis of their perceived race or national origin. To achieve that goal, they also sought to silence community members who refused to look away. Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan Act to hold accountable those who conspire to deny the equal protection of the laws. Today’s filings intend to do just that.
Will the cases succeed? Even if they do, will they stop further such tragedies? I can’t predict the future. What I do know is that they will never bring a mother back to her children, or reunite a loving couple. Still, I am moved by the compassion of Becca and the rest of Renee’s family and by their commitment to seeking justice not only for themselves, but also for many others, as Becca explains in the statement she released:
Every morning, she is my first thought. I think about how the kids are growing up without their mama, and how I will grow old without the love of my life. I think about how we should have had 40 more years together. But I also think about what she would have wanted after all of this. As we have tried to navigate our own massive loss, I am also devastated by how many other lives have been destroyed in this darkest of times. So many other families are dealing with the loss of their loved ones; to everyone who has had to witness it—the pain of this moment extends far beyond our family. 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.
Let us hope that she obtains it.
(Note that I am following the usage of Becca’s lawyers, which I presume has her approval, in referring to her as Renee’s partner above, although Becca has referred to Renee as her wife. The two women were in a committed relationship but were not legally married—not that that makes a difference to the tragedy; I’m just trying to use Becca’s desired term here.)