Content warning: This story contains mentions of gun violence and death.
Pink Poster Club, an Evanston-based activist group, organized an emergency vigil and protest Wednesday evening at Fountain Square in response to the fatal shooting of a woman by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis that morning.
Videos of the shooting verified by Minnesota Public Radio show an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent attempting to open the door of a vehicle in the middle of the street. The car then backs up and begins turning away before a second agent standing in front of the car fatally shoots the driver.
The woman was later identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen and the mother of a 6-year-old child, according to reporting from The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Attendees of the Evanston vigil held candles and chanted her name. Other residents displayed anti-ICE signs.
“What happened today to Renee could have happened to many of us that are involved in this struggle here every day,” said Hector Reyes, a West Ridge Community Defense organizer, during a speech to the crowd. “So we are here in solidarity, not only (with) Illinois, not only (with) Minnesota, but everyone that is having to fight every day.”
A Department of Homeland Security statement released on Instagram Wednesday afternoon said the ICE officer “fired defensive shots” to prevent himself and fellow agents from being run over. During a news conference in Minneapolis Wednesday evening, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Good’s actions leading up to the shooting “an act of domestic terrorism.”
When Reyes mentioned Noem, the crowd erupted in boos, with some attendees calling her a “liar.”
“It was a horrific murder,” 3rd Ward resident Jack Crane said. “It could very easily have happened to some of us who were active at Oakton and Asbury when ICE crashed into another car and pulled their guns on Evanston residents,” referring to an Oct. 31 incident in which a civilian car rear-ended an agent’s vehicle.
First Ward resident Sara Hines called the shooting “terrifying,” especially considering similarities she observed between Wednesday’s events and Evanston’s Halloween ICE incident, at which she said she was present.
The only difference, Hines said, is that this time someone was shot.
Several Democratic primary candidates in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District attended the vigil, including Mayor Daniel Biss, progressive content creator Kat Abughazaleh and State Sen. Mike Simmons (D-Chicago). Rachel Ruttenberg, a Democratic candidate for State Senate, was also present.
Abughazaleh told The Daily she had cried five times since learning of the shooting.
“It was a mom that just dropped her kid off at school,” Abughazaleh said. “Her wife saw her get shot in the head. She had stuffed animals in her glove box and a dog in her car.”
She then called for the abolition of ICE and DHS and for prosecuting federal immigration agents.
“Get the f—k out of our cities,” Abughazaleh said. “You’re not wanted here. And as soon as we possibly can, we’re not just abolishing ICE — we’re holding all of you to account.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Abughazaleh criticized Biss’ initial response to the shooting, which called to “wait for the facts to come out and demand ICE/(Customs and Border Protection) end their terror” in a Bluesky post. In response, Abughazaleh wrote on Bluesky: “There’s a video of ICE shooting a woman in the head. What else do you need to see?”
In a follow-up post, Abughazaleh wrote that federal immigration enforcement agencies had “lied” about Biss and herself. “If you want to lead in 2026,” she wrote to the mayor, “it’s time to stop believing them.”
“We saw what happened,” Abughazaleh told The Daily. “We heard her wife screaming on the ground. We don’t need to wait for those facts. We don’t need to wait for approval. We need to be angry now.”
Biss dismissed her criticism and said that public attention should instead focus on the shooting itself.
In an interview with The Daily Wednesday evening, he described the incident in Minnesota as a crime “committed by the federal government.”
“I would hope that we’re not going to worry about petty fights between candidates,” Biss said. “Someone was murdered today, and here we are standing together in solidarity. I would focus our attention not only on the violence and brutality and thuggery that comes from ICE and CBP, but also on the solidarity and love that this community is showing.”
Wednesday’s shooting also coincides with an increased ICE presence in the Chicago area. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights reported that at least 50 ICE agents arrived in the region on Tuesday.
After Wednesday’s violence, Biss said Evanston will have to become “even more ready” to protect residents from federal agents.
He added that the size and seriousness of Evanston’s community-led safety initiatives will further bolster the city’s response to immigration enforcement.
“I think residents are really shaken and angry and rattled, but resolute and prepared to continue working together in peace and solidarity to keep each other safe,” Biss said.
Simmons also called for the abolition of ICE and promised to introduce articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio if elected to Congress.
He added the protest mattered to him as the son of an Ethiopian refugee who fled government repression.
“I think about my dad, who came here as an asylum seeker, fleeing a country where this very thing was happening, where people were being shot in the street by the government and free communities being invaded,” Simmons said. “That’s happening in America right now on our watch.”
He also said that he felt “outraged” by the Trump administration’s recent federal immigration enforcement targeting the Somali community in Minnesota.
Despite the tragedy that marked Wednesday’s events, event speaker and Protect Rogers Park organizer Gabe Gonzalez urged community members to continue opposing federal immigration activity.
“They cannot believe that you will not simply take the lies that they told, but instead demand the truth,” Gonzalez said. “They do not understand a world where the response to being told to sit down and shut up is to stand up and get louder.”
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
X: @MaxTuretzky
Related Stories:
— ‘A lightning rod of truth’: Lake Street Church draws attention with anti-ICE Nativity scene
— Evanston implements ‘ICE free zones’ amid continued community concerns
