Former US Capitol Police chief weighs in on Minnesota ICE shooting
With multiple unanswered questions and the investigation into the Minnesota shooting only in its early stages, former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger says that coming to any conclusions this soon is “inappropriate and irresponsible.”
“I’ve been responsible for dozens of investigations into law enforcement’s use of deadly force,” he said. “I don’t know how anyone within an hour, two hours, even five or six hours, can say definitively this shooting was justified.”
Not long after Wednesday’s deadly shooting of Renee Nicole Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described the incident as an “act of domestic terrorism.”
Noem went on to allege Good, a mother from Minnesota, made up part of a “mob of agitators,” and that the ICE officer was simply following his training in the lead-up to the fatal shooting. She claimed Good tried to use her vehicle to run over the ICE officer.
The secretary’s comments came as the investigation into the fatal shooting was just getting underway.
“Frankly, it shows that they really don’t care about the facts,” Manger told WTOP.
With decades’ worth of policing experience, Manger said one of the adjustments made to trainings over the years has been to stress that officers do not take positions in areas of danger, such as standing in front of vehicles during any level of confrontation.
Prior to the shooting, the officer that fired into Good’s SUV positioned himself in front of the vehicle.
“The first thing you do is do not put yourself in the position where you are in danger,” Manger said. “So if you have the choice not to be in front of a car that’s moving, don’t.”
“All of these things are very fluid, all of these things are very chaotic in the moment,” Manger added.
The former police chief of Fairfax and Montgomery counties also underscored the importance of de-escalation tactics.
“Is the initial action something that escalated the situation, or was there a better way to approach it to get this vehicle moved out of the way?” he said.
Aftermath of Minnesota shooting
In the hours after the shooting, Minnesota’s leadership has split between urging for calm in the area and calling for the departure of ICE agents.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey rejected Noem’s claims that the shooting was an example of domestic terrorism, saying that all ICE agents “are doing is causing chaos and distrust.”
“They’re ripping families apart,” he said. “They’re sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people.”
Similarly outraged, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz referred to the shooting as both “predictable” and “avoidable.”
Walz said he was prepared to deploy the National Guard, if necessary, in the face of protests.
Thousands gathered Wednesday night to hold a vigil for Good in an area that sits less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed in May 2020.
The Associated Press and WTOP’s Gaby Arancibia contributed to this report.