The violent incident that occurred on the morning of January 7 in Minneapolis, claiming the life of a mother of three, was inevitable, but such violence is “likely to remain a feature of our common life as long as federal agents are being deployed to cities seen to oppose the current administration for the sole purpose of provocation and intimidation.”
This was the message of the Rt. Rev. Craig Loya, Bishop of Minnesota, to the church about the shooting of Renee Nicole Macklin Good. Macklin Good was shot and killed by ICE during an encounter in the streets of southern Minneapolis. She was 37 years old.
In report by the Associated Press, Macklin Good’s ex-husband said she had just dropped off her 6-year-old son at school and was driving home before she was approached by ICE agents.
Widely circulated videos reveal how the incident transpired. An ICE officer approached a Honda Pilot that was stopped in the middle of the road, grabbed its handle, and demanded the driver to open the door. Refusing the officer’s demand, the driver pulls forward as another ICE officer pulls his weapon and fires several shots at close range.
One eyewitness said the driver appeared to have accelerated and traveled about 100 feet before slamming into a utility pole and other vehicles. Macklin Good died just a few blocks from where she lived, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports.
The co-chair of the Episcopal Migration Caucus, the Rev. Leann Culbreath, in a statement to The Living Church, described the incident as an “egregious and deeply tragic act of state violence.”
“The Episcopal Migration Caucus extends deep sympathy and solidarity to Renee Good’s loved ones and her community,” the statement reads. The grassroots group comprises lay and ordained Episcopalians advocating against mass detention and deportation.
“This shooting exposes the depth of violence and dehumanization inherent to the U.S. immigration system, especially mass detention and deportation, which we have directly experienced in our lives and ministries. As more armed and masked ICE officers pour onto our streets, with accountability structures removed, violence like this is inevitable.”
The day before the shooting, the Department of Homeland Security announced “the largest DHS operation ever” in Minnesota, saying it was deploying 2,000 law enforcement officers to the Twin Cities, the majority of them ICE agents.
In response to the incident, ICE said the officer fired defensive shots out of fear for his life.
“The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased. Thankfully, the ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries,” part of ICE’s statement to the media reads.
In an interview with The New York Times, President Donald Trump said that Macklin Good “behaved horribly” before she was killed. Her death has since sparked protests nationwide and exasperated responses from politicians, immigration activists, and church leaders.
In an expletive-laden pronouncement, Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis demanded the government bureau, tasked with carrying out the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, leave the city.
On the evening of January 7, the Episcopal Diocese of New York shared an aerial video of protesters gathering at the scene where the mother of three was shot, with this caption: “Renee Nicole Good. Say her name. Pray for her family and neighbors. Tell the truth. Invading our neighborhoods with violence and cruelty does not make us safer.”
“The federal government has been making good for a full year on its promise to enforce immigration policy through a racially narrow lens and with a cruel delight,” Loya added in a message shared on Facebook.
The chief pastor of the Diocese of Minnesota also reflects on the Apostle Matthew’s account of the Epiphany, which was celebrated on January 6.
“King Herod meets the news of King Jesus with fear that quickly turns into a murderous rage as he slaughters an untold number of infants to eliminate the threat to his power. The wise men who had been watching the skies for a sign are overwhelmed with joy at the good news that Herod’s campaign of terror through violent force has met the unstoppable power of God’s love,” Loya wrote.
Loya urged the church to heed the call “to stand in the midst of a world where Herod continues to flex and posture, not in outrage or with reciprocal violence, but gazing in wonder and expectation for the joyful manifestation of Jesus wherever the poor, the outsider, the weak, and the oppressed are to be found.”
“The church’s first response must be solidarity and lament,” said the Rev. Christian Anderson, vicar of St. Mary’s Church in Stuart, Florida, cited Psalm 13:1 (“How long, oh Lord?”). “We sit with those who weep. We do not offer easy answers or false comfort.”
He asked the church to pray for Macklin Good’s family and for immigrant communities living in fear. Anderson was a guest last month on The Living Church Podcast, which focused on “Empowering Ministry with Immigrant Communities.”
Macklin Good was a U.S. citizen born in Colorado.
The Guardian reported that 32 people have died in ICE custody in 2025, making it the deadliest year for the agency in over 20 years. Culbreath referred to the statistic in her statement on behalf of the migration caucus.
“As followers of Jesus, we call for the end to this destructive and deadly system and insist on ways of treating each other, individually and systematically, that uphold life, dignity, and basic human rights,” she said. “We call on all Christians, especially Episcopalians, to pray ‘thy Kingdom come’ with their lives and actions.”
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications.
