Protests were held Saturday in Fort Myers and Naples to show how people felt about what many said was an unjustified shooting of a woman in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In Fort Myers hundreds protested along Palm Beach Boulevard Saturday morning.
In Collier County the protest was a candlelight vigil at the county courthouse Saturday evening.
The woman who was killed, Renee, Nicole Good, was a 37-year-old mother who moments before she was shot tried to tell the ice agent who shot her that she was not angry at him.
The killing, captured on cellphone video, has exposed sharp divisions between federal authorities who quickly defended the agent's actions and local leaders who called the shooting unjustified. It has also renewed scrutiny of use-of-force rules that many police departments adopted decades ago to reduce the risk to bystanders or drivers losing control after being shot.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described Wednesday's episode as an “act of domestic terrorism” and said the agent acted in self defense and to protect fellow officers.
But cellphone video of the incident tells a different story.
Thousands of people also marched in Sarasota, St. Pete, and other Florida locations as well as in Minneapolis on Saturday to protest the fatal shooting.
The shooting of the woman, identified by family members as Renee Nicole Good, 37, occurred as Homeland Security escalates immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota by deploying 2,000 agents and officers. It’s the latest in a growing number of violent encounters between ICE agents and community members, and at least the fifth fatality.
In October, a Chicago woman was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in a similar incident involving a vehicle. Marimar Martinez, 30, survived, and was almost immediately labeled a “domestic terrorist” by Homeland Security officials, who said she had “ambushed” and “rammed” agents with her vehicle.
John P. Gross, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Law who has written extensively about officers shooting at moving vehicles, said while more departments have added explicit policies regarding use-of-force and moving vehicles, officer training also needs to improve.
“If this woman was blocking the street and a law enforcement operation, they are entitled to arrest her. What they are not entitled to do is to use deadly force to arrest her,” Gross said. “From just watching the video, this seems like an egregious example.”
He said officers need to consider the totality of a situation, the crime or allegation being made against someone, whether they can be found at a later date or whether they are an actual danger.
Gross noted that Minnesota passed a revision to its use-of-force statutes that require clearly identified and immediate threats and also make it easier for prosecutors to file state charges for excessive force.
It is far too early to know whether the ICE officer who fired the fatal shot could face criminal charges. Multiple investigations are ongoing, including by the FBI, and prosecutors have said no decisions will be made until those inquiries are complete.
Federal law enforcement officers have broad legal protections when acting in the course of their official duties, and the Justice Department has taken a hard line against state efforts to arrest or prosecute federal agents. Late last year, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said arrests of federal officers performing their duties would be “illegal and futile,” citing the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and federal law.
Legal experts say those protections are significant but not absolute. The Supremacy Clause does not provide blanket immunity, and federal agents can still face criminal liability if prosecutors determine they acted unlawfully or outside their authority.
Local prosecutors said they have jurisdiction but stressed the process is ongoing. Daniel Borgertpoepping, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, said investigators are still gathering facts and that charging decisions would come later, if at all. “The bottom line is yes, we have jurisdiction,” he said.
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
