Don’t believe your eyes.
On Thursday, that’s what some members of Donald Trump's administration essentially said when talking about the tragic events of Wednesday when an ICE agent shot and killed a woman, Renee Nicole Good, during an immigration enforcement operation.
Cellphone videos taken by those at the scene appeared to show that no agents’ lives were threatened and that the agent fired the shots as the victim’s car was driving past him, not at him. And that’s how many media outlets described the event, which we could all see with our own eyes.
Videos of the shooting were analyzed by The New York Times, which said in its coverage, “… our analysis of bystander footage, filmed from different angles, appears to show the agent was not in the path of the victim’s SUV when he fired three shots at close range.”
The Times went on to say, “The moment the agent fires, he is standing here to the left of the SUV and the wheels are pointing to the right away from the agent. This appears to conflict with allegations that the SUV was ramming or about to ram the officer. President Trump and others said the federal agent was hit by the SUV, often pointing to another video filmed from a different angle. And it’s true that at this moment, in this grainy, low-resolution footage, it does look like the agent is being struck by the SUV. But when we synchronize it with the first clip, we can see the agent is not being run over. In fact, his feet are positioned away from the SUV.”
Meanwhile, in a visual forensics piece for The Washington Post, Aaron C. Davis and Jonathan Baran wrote, “The SUV did move toward the ICE agent as he stood in front of it. But the agent was able to move out of the way and fire at least two of three shots from the side of the vehicle as it veered past him, according to the analysis.”
The Post has still-frame shots at the time of each of the three gun shots. The front left tire of the car appeared to be to the right of the agent.
Yet, the Trump administration continues to insist the ICE agent was firing in self-defense and that the driver was attempting to run him over.
On Thursday morning, Vice President JD Vance called Good a “deranged leftist” on X. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she was part of a “left-wing network” that attacks law enforcement.
Vance said in a Thursday press conference that being a part of such a network (which, by the way, is unproven) does not mean one should be shot. But, he said, intentionally ramming your car at a federal agent is justification for being shot. He added, “The reason this woman is dead is because she tried to ram somebody with her car and that guy acted in self defense.”
Vance posted a clip on X of his comments and wrote, “I've seen a lot of dishonest coverage from the media during my time in politics, but the last 24 hours may have set a new low.”
During his press conference, he scolded the media, saying, “I think it's really irresponsible for you guys to go out there and imply or tell the American people that a guy who defended himself from being rammed by an automobile is guilty of murder. Be a little bit more careful. I want to talk about toning down the temperature, which I know the president wants to do, and I certainly want to do. One of the ways we tone down the temperature is to have a media that tells the truth. I encourage you all to do that.”
But, again, videos do not support Vance’s claims that Good was trying to ram the agent. It also seems as if calling her a “deranged leftist” and having administration officials call her actions domestic terrorism isn’t exactly “toning down the temperature.”
Reporters on Thursday pressed Vance on if he truly believed what he was saying after seeing videos of the shooting.
At one point in the press conference, Vance snapped at reporters, “I’m sorry, guys. What’s going on here? You guys are meant to report the truth. How have you let yourself become agents of propaganda of a radical fringe that’s making it harder for us to enforce our laws?”
The Atlantic’s Adam Sewer has a must-read piece in The Atlantic: “First the Shooting. Then the Lies.”
Sewer writes, “There were no riots at the scene, and no rioters. The vehicle appears to be driving away from the armed federal agents, not toward them, and no one was run over. And there is no evidence that terrorism of any kind was involved. After the shooting, federal agents then reportedly prevented a bystander who identified himself as a physician from tending to (the victim).”
The New York Times’ Chris Hippensteel, Albert Sun and Jill Cowan reported Thursday, “In the last four months alone, immigration officers have fired on at least nine people in five states and Washington, D.C. All of the individuals targeted in those shootings were, like the woman killed on Wednesday, fired on while in their vehicles. In each case, officials have claimed that the agents fired in self-defense, fearing they would be struck by the vehicle. At least one other person died as a result of those shootings.”
Again, what’s most troubling about the administration’s defense of Wednesday’s shooting, is acting as if no one has seen videos of what happened.
Sewer wrote in The Atlantic, “The blatant lies about Minneapolis serve several purposes. They perpetuate the false narrative that federal agents are in constant peril and therefore justified in using lethal force at the slightest hint of danger. They assure federal agents that they can harm or even kill American citizens with impunity, and warn those who might be moved to protest Trump’s immigration policies of the same thing. Perhaps most grim, they communicate to the public that if you happen to be killed by a federal agent, your government will bear false witness to the world that you were a terrorist.”
