The Absence of Accountability

Pardon the Interruption

On January 7, 2026, an incident captured on multiple videos showed an ICE officer pointing his firearm from less than two meters away and shooting a driver at close range, fatally wounding her. The woman killed was Renee Nicole Macklin Good, a 37-year-old mother of a six-year-old child.

Video footage shows Good, driving a Honda Pilot, stopped across the middle of the road. She is seen yelling at officers and motioning with her hand as if signaling them to go around her vehicle. ICE officers approach from different directions. One officer walks directly toward her vehicle while shouting commands, while another moves around the front and positions himself at the far left corner.

When Good appears to notice the officer attempting to open her door, she backs up, turns her front tires to the right—likely aware of the officer, Jonathan Ross, standing near the left corner—and accelerates. At that moment, Ross, who is standing roughly half a meter from the front of the vehicle draws his firearm, extends his arm, aims directly at the driver, and fires three times -- once through the window hitting Good in the face.

Law enforcement officers are trained to de-escalate situations and use non-lethal alternatives whenever possible. In this case, the officer appears to have taken a shoot-to-kill approach. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem quickly labeled the incident an “act of domestic terrorism” against ICE officers, claiming Good attempted to use her vehicle as a weapon. Former President Trump echoed that framing on social media, blaming the “Radical Left Movement” and stating that “the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting,” and that she “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer,” who allegedly shot her in self-defense.

However, other video clips show the officer was not struck. In fact, the officer's camera shows Good turning her wheels away to avoid hitting. 

This matters because accountability shapes the limits of federal power. When a city police officer shoots someone, that officer is typically placed on leave while an investigation is conducted. If federal authorities immediately side with an ICE agent without similar scrutiny, it risks setting a precedent where lethal force is justified without accountability. That should concern anyone, because you, a loved one, or a friend being in the “wrong place at the wrong time” can mean a public street, a downtown sidewalk, or simply turning the wrong corner.