Renee Good’s family sues Trump officials over ICE killing: ‘They took a mother away from her children’

Becca Good bought the shoes, the backpack, the notebooks, and the pencil case. In August, she prepared their son for first grade. Then she went to back-to-school night alone.

Renee Good had never missed those moments.

Now Halloween is approaching, their 6-year-old’s favorite holiday, and Becca will take him trick-or-treating without the woman who should have been beside her.

“He is becoming this amazing little man, and that’s all Renee ever wanted to see,” Becca Good said Thursday. “And watching him grow into that person without her beside me is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”

At the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Good joined Renee’s relatives and their attorneys to announce two federal lawsuits over her killing. As Becca spoke, Renee’s mother, Donna Ganger, placed a hand on her arm. These were Becca’s first public remarks since the shooting, following a written statement in January.

One complaint, against the United States, alleges that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross shot the 37-year-old mother of three without justification as she tried to drive away on January 7, and that agents failed to provide medical assistance.

The second, a 149-page complaint against Ross and other individuals, alleges senior officials directed a discriminatory campaign against Minnesota’s Somali and Hispanic communities and sought to intimidate neighbors who documented it.

Becca Good and Renee’s brother, Brent Ganger, the court-appointed trustee for her children, parents, and siblings, brought both cases.

“We intend to vigorously defend these baseless civil lawsuits,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement reported by NPR.

Related: Renee Good's family reveals she randomly encountered ICE and stopped to observe

The life behind the lawsuits

Renee Good loved poetry, film, and animals. According to the complaints, she was preparing to pursue a master’s degree in English and had applied to become a substitute teacher at her youngest son’s school, where she served on the school board.

Her children were 15, 12, and 6 when she died.

Becca described a mother who nurtured their interests and gave them room to become themselves.

“She was the center of my universe and living without her is like trying to live without the sun,” she said.

The complaint against the government describes summers exploring museums and zoos with her older children, regular calls to relatives, and family visits even when money was tight.

“Every morning she’s my first thought,” Becca said. “I think about how the kids are growing up without their mama, and I’ll grow old without the love of my life.”

Related: Trump tries to smear Renee Good and her wife for ICE killing

After the school drop-off

Renee and Becca were returning from taking their youngest son to school when they encountered agents deployed under Operation Metro Surge.

According to the complaints, Renee stopped on Portland Avenue and honked to alert neighbors. Becca got out to film. Neither woman was under investigation or had threatened violence, the family says.

Ross drove around their SUV, then got out and circled it, recording.

“That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you. I’m not mad at any of you,” Renee told him, according to the filings and video from that day.

Other agents ordered her out and tried to open her door. The complaint also notes that another agent told her to leave.

The family alleges Good turned away from Ross, who moved clear of the SUV’s path, leaned toward it, and fired through the windshield. He fired twice more through the open driver’s window.

As The Advocate reported in January, footage attributed to Ross’s cellphone appeared to show him nearly clear of the SUV before firing. Vice President JD Vance maintained at the time that it supported the administration’s self-defense claim.

Becca ran to the crashed SUV. The lawsuits allege agents provided no aid and turned away a bystander who identified himself as a physician.

“I don’t care,” an agent replied, according to the filings and video from that day.

Related: Justice Department lawyers resign after push to investigate Renee Good's widow

A case reaching into the White House

The companion lawsuit names Ross, Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, Tom Homan, Todd Lyons, Gregory Bovino, and 10 unidentified federal agents, all individually.

The family argues Renee and Becca were harmed while doing what the alleged campaign sought to suppress: warning neighbors and documenting enforcement.

Drawing on published accounts of administration discussions, the complaint alleges Miller directed enforcement through daily calls, demanded arrest totals, and ordered agents into areas with protesters and observers to “force confrontations.”

The family seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

Related: After ICE killing of Renee Good, Minnesota and cities sue Trump over 'unlawful policing tactics'

The threats that followed

The companion complaint alleges officials’ portrayals of Renee as a terrorist and criminal compounded Becca’s trauma and exposed her to continuing threats.

She could not live at home for more than a month, hired security staff, and installed a security system and window film, according to the filing.

The complaint says she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and insomnia and experiences flashbacks, panic, headaches, and chest pain.

In her January statement, previously reported by The Advocate, Becca explained why they stopped that morning.

“We had whistles. They had guns,” she wrote.

On Thursday, she described neighbors bringing meals, offering rides, and watching their son afterward. “No one asked who you voted for first,” she said.

Accountability, she said, was necessary to prevent another family from suffering the same loss. “They took a mother away from her children. They know that, and they will carry it forever. Caring for each other shouldn’t cost you your life,” she added.

When she tucks their son into bed, Becca said she promises she is working toward the world Renee wanted for him.

“This is the world that she believed in,” she said. “It’s the world I’m going to fight for, and that’s the world I’m going to raise our son in.”