People visit a memorial for Renee Nicole Good on January 7, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. | Scott Olson/Getty Images

The events that led to a federal officer in Minneapolis killing Renee Nicole Good have not been universally interpreted. On a visit to Texas on Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described the incident as an “act of domestic terrorism.” She said Good was attacking ICE officers and that she “attempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle.”

“Our officer followed his training, did exactly what he’s been taught to do in that situation,” Noem said later in the day at a press conference in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called that “bullshit” and “garbage.” He demanded that ICE “get the fuck out of Minneapolis.”

“We do not want you here,” he said. “Your stated reason for being here in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite.”

And when Frey was questioned about his remarks by CNN host Kaitlan Collins, saying some had called his remarks “divisive,” he said this: “I’m so sorry if I offended their Disney Princess ears. But here’s the thing. If we’re talking about what’s inflammatory, on the one hand, you got someone dropping the f-bomb. On the other hand, you got someone who killed somebody else.”

So how did all of this get started? And how is it all going now? Today, Explained co-host Noel King wanted an on-the-ground perspective, and Max Nesterak, a reporter and editor for Minnesota Reformer, told her that Minnesotans are tired and full of pain.

Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.

Over the past couple of weeks, a fraud scandal in Minnesota has consumed the American right. That scandal led to the government deploying a bunch of ICE agents to Minneapolis. Yesterday, one of those officers shot and killed a woman. What do we know about that shooting?

So yesterday morning, around 10 am, ICE officers fatally shot a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident named Renee Nicole Good. I spoke with witnesses and received a video of the incident.

What we see and what the witness I talked to said [is that] she was out for a walk and saw an ICE vehicle stuck in the snow. And then more ICE vehicles arrived, and bystanders were blowing their whistles and protesting to get people’s attention as part of these patrols, “ICE watch,” that people throughout the Twin Cities are doing to document the arrests.

Then we see Good in her Honda Pilot parked perpendicular........

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