CNN Analyst Disputes ICE Account After Minneapolis Mother Is Killed; Video, Policy Questions Raised

CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller, has publicly challenged the version of events Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released to explain the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.

Good was shot and killed on a residential street as federal agents carried out large-scale enforcement operations in the city. Video captured at the scene shows an ICE agent approaching Good's Honda SUV and shouting as the vehicle began to move. Audio and video indicate at least three shots were fired through the vehicle's window before the SUV crashed into another car. Good's 6-year-old son is now without a mother.

Former federal prosecutor Elie Honig, former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow, and former NYPD deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism John Miller on CNN. / screen grab

Video, Policy And Tactical Concerns

Miller — a former senior official with the NYPD, LAPD and FBI — told Anderson Cooper 360 that the footage appears to show the officer positioning himself in front of the moving vehicle, a tactic that he argued "creates a situation where this is almost bound to happen; the car starts to move forward, you're going to perceive that as a threat." Miller said the audio supports that three shots were fired and noted that "you're not supposed to shoot at a moving vehicle," calling such actions "inherently dangerous" and "usually ineffective."

"Law enforcement officers are prohibited from discharging firearms at the operator of a moving vehicle... unless the use of deadly force against the operator is justified," Miller said, adding that officers must weigh the risk to bystanders and whether the tactic was justified from a tactical standpoint.

Miller also questioned details offered by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who told reporters the officer who fired had previously been rammed and dragged by a vehicle in June. "We haven't isolated what incident that was or where it was," Miller said, noting a pattern of embellishment in some accounts conveyed from headquarters-level sources.

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Google/Getty

Official Statements And Pushback

Secretary Noem described the incident as an "act of domestic terrorism" by Good and defended the officer's actions as self-defense. President Donald Trump echoed that account, saying Good was "very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer." CNN analysts and others have pointed out that the released video does not appear to show officers stuck in snow, a detail Noem mentioned when describing the circumstances of the operation.

CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow observed that officers in the released footage did not give clear verbal commands such as "show me your hands" or identify themselves verbally as law enforcement. "There was no 'Show me your hands, put your car in park,' there was no identification of police," he said, adding that there appeared to be opportunities to de-escalate the encounter.

Miller questioned the DHS claim that the driver had been trying to run down ICE officers. / Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Beyond tactical and policy questions, Miller emphasized the separate legal inquiry: whether the officer's actions were lawful or criminal. Local and federal investigators are expected to review the video, witnesses and other evidence as they examine the shooting.

Context

The shooting occurred amid a deployment of more than 2,000 federal officers and agents to Minneapolis for enforcement operations. The incident has intensified scrutiny of ICE tactics, use-of-force policies, and the accuracy of official statements following officer-involved shootings.

Note: This report summarizes statements made on air and details visible in released footage. Investigations remain ongoing and official findings may change as authorities review additional evidence.