The mayor of Minneapolis and other local elected officials have called on the administration of US President Donald Trump to “embrace the truth” and guarantee an impartial investigation into an immigration agent’s killing of a city resident earlier this week.

The appeal on Friday came a day after an independent state investigatory body said it had been cut out of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe into the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.

The unusual move raised concerns of bias in the federal government’s investigation into one of its own agents.

“This is not a time to hide from the facts,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said during a news conference. “This is a time to embrace them, making sure that we’re pushing for transparency every step of the way.”

Trump administration officials had swiftly claimed the incident, which took place in a residential Minneapolis neighbourhood on Wednesday, was an act of “domestic terrorism”, and that the involved agent was acting in self-defence as the victim tried to run him over.

But video evidence has cast doubt over the federal government’s narrative.

Frey said it was deeply “concerning” that the Trump administration had already “come to a conclusion” about the facts of the case, long before any investigation had been completed.

Without the involvement of independent local investigators, he added, any findings by the FBI will be seen as tainted and would only further foment unrest and distrust.

“This is not some radical, way out there group,” Frey said of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which had initially been invited by the FBI to take part in the probe, before being abruptly cut out.

“This is a group that is formed by experts who understand how to investigate, many of them have been police officers themselves.”

The mayor added that people in Minneapolis are demanding “justice and the truth.”

Claims without evidence

Protests have continued across Minneapolis and other cities in the US following the killing.

Several videos of the incident on Wednesday show Good parked in the middle of the road in a maroon Honda Pilot SUV as ICE agents walked towards her vehicle.

One officer approached the driver side window, telling Good to exit the SUV, although another agent is seen waving at her, in what some say may have been a conflicting order.

Good’s vehicle is then seen reversing and then driving forward slowly. That’s when an agent standing near the front left bumper of the SUV opens fire. The vehicle continued forward down the road before crashing into a utility pole and another car.

A video of the aftermath appeared to show law enforcement agents refusing to allow an individual who identifies himself as a physician to give medical aid to Good, who was pronounced dead soon after.

Good – a 37-year-old mother of three – was dropping off her youngest child at school.

Just moments after the killing, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed in a statement that Good was a “violent rioter” who “weaponized her vehicle” in an attempt to “run over” law enforcement.

Hours later, Trump called Good without evidence a “professional agitator” who “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer”, blaming the incident on the “Radical left”.

The US president claimed it was “hard to believe” the involved agent was alive, despite video showing him walking around the scene after opening fire.

Joining a lengthy White House news conference on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance also presented an incendiary account of the incident, calling it “classic terrorism” and suggesting Good had been “brainwashed” by the “radical left”.

He also falsely claimed that the officer who opened fire “is protected by absolute immunity” from state prosecution because he was a federal law enforcement agent “doing his job”.

Renewed scrutiny over ICE

The shooting has brought renewed scrutiny to Trump’s mass deportation drive, which has seen his administration flood communities across the country with federal agents as it has sought to quickly grow the ballooning ranks of ICE.

Prior to the killing, The Trace news website had documented 16 incidents in which federal agents enforcing the immigration crackdown shot someone since Trump took office in January 2025. Good was among four people killed in those shootings, it said.

On Thursday, two Customs and Border Patrol agents, who fall under DHS like ICE agents, opened fire and wounded a man and a woman during a traffic stop in Portland, Oregon.

A bill signed into law by Trump in 2025 allocates $75bn for ICE’s personnel, enforcement and detention budget over the next four years – funds that far surpass the military budgets of most countries in the world.

Speaking at Friday’s news conference, Minneapolis city council member Jason Chavez said it was imperative to have an independent investigation into Good’s killing for local residents to be able to “have a sense of trust in this process”.

Good’s killing came as the administration surged ICE agents to Minneapolis in its latest targeting of Somali Americans, leaving many living in fear, he added.

“What descended upon Minneapolis and in this state is not the American dream,” he said. “It is not what the American dream is about.” (Al Jazeera)

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