Federal investigators have recently turned their attention to examining potential ties between Renee Good, a victim of an ICE shooting, and activist groups opposing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. This investigation emerges amidst ongoing protests against the administration’s crackdown on immigration.

The FBI has taken the lead in this comprehensive probe, sidelining local law enforcement agencies in the process. Their investigation seeks to unravel the circumstances surrounding the fatal incident, scrutinizing both the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross and the physical evidence, including the firearm involved in the shooting.

According to sources with knowledge of the investigation, as reported by The New York Times, the Department of Justice’s civil rights division, which typically handles inquiries into police-related shootings, has yet to launch an investigation into whether Ross violated federal civil rights laws in the case of Good’s death.

At this stage, it appears increasingly improbable that Ross will face criminal charges, according to the Times. Instead, the Justice Department is reportedly shifting its focus towards a broader investigation of activists involved in ICE watch activities in a Minneapolis neighborhood. Officials suspect these activists may have played a role in provoking the tragic shooting.

Instead, the Justice Department is reportedly planning to look into a wide group of activists who took part in a Minneapolis neighborhood ICE watch activities, believing they were ‘instigators’ of the shooting.

It remains unclear whether Good, a 37-year-old mother-of-three, was involved in any activism in Minneapolis besides participating in the protest against ICE actions on the day that she was killed – however the FBI is reportedly determined to find out.

Witnesses have said Good and her wife, Rebecca, were acting as legal observers and filming the protest.

In harrowing footage from the scene, Rebecca admitted she encouraged Good to confront agents. ‘I made her come down here, it’s my fault,’ she cried. 

Friends, though, have claimed Good became involved in activism through her six-year-old son’s charter school and its local ‘ICE Watch group,’ which is a coalition of activists who seek to disrupt immigration raids.

Federal investigators are said to be looking into ICE shooting victim Renee Nicole Good’s possible connections with activist groups 

The 37-year-old was fatally shot in Minneapolis by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross (pictured), who sources said is not expected to face criminal charges

Good was shot last Wednesday after she drove her Honda Pilot toward Ross

‘She was a warrior. She died doing what was right,’ a mother named Leesa who has a child at the same school as Good’s son told The New York Post.

‘[Renee Good] was trained against these ICE agents — what to do, what not to do, it’s a very thorough training.

‘I know she was doing the right thing. I watched the video plenty of times but I also know in my heart the woman she was, she was doing everything right.’

In surveillance footage, Good was seen apparently blocking the road with her SUV for four minutes before she was killed.

About 20 seconds after Good pulled up to the street, a passenger – believed to be her wife Rebecca – exited the vehicle and eventually began filming. 

There is speculation that Rebecca, who admitted to bringing her spouse to the anti-ICE protest, exited the car so she could begin filming any potential clash with federal agents.

She was seen wielding her camera during Ross’s confrontation with her wife but it is unclear when she first started to record.

Other footage from the shooting shows an officer approaching Good’s stopped SUV. He grabbed the handle as he allegedly demanded she open the door. 

Good was seen apparently blocking the road with her SUV for four minutes before she was killed

About 20 seconds after Good pulled up to the street, a passenger – believed to be her wife Rebecca (pictured) – exited the vehicle and eventually began filming 

Her Honda Pilot then began to pull forward and Ross pulled his weapon, immediately firing three shots and jumping back as the vehicle moved toward him.

It is not clear from the videos if the vehicle made contact with Ross. After the shooting, the SUV slammed into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.

Almost immediately after the shooting, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described Good’s actions as ‘an act of domestic terrorism’ as she defended Ross as an experienced law enforcement professional who followed his training.

She claimed he shot Good after he believed she was trying to run him or other agents over with her vehicle.

President Trump also called the Good a ‘professional agitator’ and claimed she was shot in ‘self-defense.’

He then reiterated that message on Sunday, saying Good was ‘very violent’ and ‘very radical,’ calling her and her wife ‘professional agitators’ and suggesting that federal authorities would ‘find out who’s paying for it.’

Witnesses have said Good and her wife, Rebecca, were acting as legal observers and filming the protest on Wednesday

In harrowing footage from the scene, Rebecca admitted she encouraged Good to confront agents 

Experts in domestic terrorism cases now say the Trump administration jumped the gun in claiming that Good was a ‘domestic terrorist’ and failed to follow traditional procedures for determining whether a case should be classified as domestic terrorism.

‘There used to be a process, deliberate and considered, to figure out if behavior could be legitimately described as domestic terrorism,’ Thomas E Brzozowski, former counsel for domestic terrorism in the Justice Department’s national security division, told the Times.

‘And when it’s not followed, then the term becomes little more than a political cudgel to bash one’s enemies.’

Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo last month that greatly expanded the federal government’s definition of domestic terrorism, classifying it as not just recognizably violent crimes like rioting and looting, but also including things like impeding law enforcement officers or doxxing them.

The memo asserted that domestic terrorists use violence or the threat of violence to advance ‘political and social agendas,’ all of which are traditionally associated with progressive activism, according to The Times.

Among the causes the memo listed were opposition to immigration enforcement, anticapitalism and ‘hostility towards traditional views on family, religion and morality.’

‘When you have a memo like this, it complicates things because it builds in a set of assumptions about what domestic terrorism is and what is not,’ Brzozowski said.

‘If you’re an investigator in the field, you can’t simply run away from this new definition,’ he added. ‘You have to deal with it.’ 

The Trump administration has defended Ross (pictured with his wife), saying he is an experienced law enforcement professional who followed his training

Meanwhile, officials in Minnesota are trying to take matters into their own hands by suing the Trump administration in an effort to block immigration enforcement operations.

The lawsuit asks a federal court in Minnesota to declare the surge of new ICE agent arrivals unconstitutional and unlawful, alleging that Operation Metro Surge violates federal law because it is arbitrary – noting that other states are not seeing equitable crackdowns.

State officials are also seeking a ban on US officers threatening to use physical force or brandishing weapons against people who are not subject to an immigration arrest, and other limits on federal law enforcement action.

They are further asking a judge to prevent the federal government from arresting US citizens and visa holders without probable cause that they have committed a crime.

While the Trump administration says the surge in immigration raids in Minnesota is about fighting fraud, the lawsuit says ICE agents have no expertise in combatting fraud in government programs.

It instead claims the federal government is targeting Minnesota over politics, which it says is a violation of the First Amendment.