The woman who died Wednesday in Minneapolis after being shot by an agent of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was identified as Renee Nicole Good, 37 years old.

Good, a mother of three, died during an ICE operation targeting irregular immigration.

The woman was a US citizen, according to two federal sources who spoke to CBS, the BBC's partner in the United States.

The identity of the agent who killed her is currently unknown.

The incident has sparked protests in this city in the northern state of Minnesota, as well as a strong political controversy at the national level.

Federal authorities maintain that the agent's shots against Good were in self-defense, while Minneapolis and Minnesota authorities believe the agent fired unjustifiably, as the victim was not endangering his life.

“An incredible human being”

Good's mother, Donna Granger, publicly identified her daughter a few hours after the fatal shooting, describing her as “one of the kindest people” she had ever known.

“She was extremely compassionate. Throughout her life, she cared about people. She was loving, tolerant, and caring. She was an incredible human being,” Granger told The Minnesota Star Tribune. Granger expressed disbelief at the circumstances of her daughter's death. “It was such a stupid thing to do,” she told the local media outlet. “She was probably terrified.” According to her mother, Good lived with her partner in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, a fact confirmed in a joint statement by several members of the City Council. On what appears to be Good's now-private Instagram account, US media outlets report that she described herself as a “poet, writer, wife, and mother” who was “enjoying Minneapolis.” Originally from Colorado Springs, she had moved to Minneapolis last year from Kansas City. The Minnesota Star Tribune reports that she used to host a podcast with her second husband, Tim Macklin, but he passed away in 2023. They had one son together, who is now 6 years old,Macklin's father told the newspaper. Good had two other children with her first husband, who spoke to the US media on the condition that his name was not revealed. He stated that Good was not an activist, but a devout Christian who had traveled to Northern Ireland on youth missions when she was younger. According to the Associated Press, she had previously worked as a dental assistant and at a credit union, but in recent years she was a homemaker. Good studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and in 2020 won an undergraduate award from the Academy of American Poets. “When she's not writing, reading, or talking about writing, she watches movie marathons and makes art with her daughter and two sons,” reads the award biography, as quoted by US media. Now, apparently, the text has been removed from the website.

Good graduated that same year from the university's College of Arts and Letters with a bachelor's degree in English.

In a statement, its president said that her sudden death “is yet another stark example of how, sadly, fear and violence have become commonplace in our country.”

“May Renee's life be a reminder of what unites us: freedom, love, and peace,” Brian wrote Hemphill, president of Old Dominion University.

Videos of the incident

Videos circulating in the media and on social networks show, from various angles, the vehicle in which the woman was traveling partially blocking a street as immigration agents approach.

They try to open the driver's side door, who apparently tries to flee by accelerating to the right.

One of the agents, who was trying to block the way The officer respond by firing several shots toward the driver's seat. The car went out of control and crashed into a parked vehicle. The videos do not clearly show the extent to which the moving vehicle touched the officer. Following the incident, hundreds of protesters gathered at the scene, located near some of the city's oldest immigrant-owned businesses and less than two kilometers from where George Floyd died at the hands of police in 2020.

“Something horrible to see”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was visiting Texas, described the incident as an “act of domestic terrorism” against immigration enforcement.

According to her account, the driver attempted to run over the agents and rammed them with her vehicle, leading one of them to fire a weapon “to protect himself and those around him.”

That characterization was strongly rejected by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who called the federal government's version “garbage.”

The Twin Cities area (Minneapolis and St. Paul) had been tense since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the start of the operation on Tuesday, related in part to alleged irregularities and fraud involving Somali residents.

Kristi Noem confirmed that “hundreds and hundreds” of arrests have been made as part of this campaign.

*With reporting and additional information from Tiffany Wertheimer, BBC News journalist.