On a snowy Minneapolis street, a routine weekday morning ended in tragedy, and a life that had quietly touched literature, family, and community activism suddenly became the focus of national attention.Authorities have confirmed that the woman fatally shot and killed during an encounter with federal immigration officers was Renee Nicole Macklin Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who had only recently begun building a life in Minnesota.As investigations continue into the shooting involving an officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, fragments of Good’s personal story have emerged, revealing a multifaceted life shaped by creativity, caregiving, and reinvention.
Below are five key facts about Good, whose death has sparked grief, questions, and renewed scrutiny of federal law enforcement actions.A man holds a sign bearing the name Renee Nicole Good as people march in protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in New York City, on January 7, 2026. Long before her name appeared in national headlines, Good was already known in literary circles for her writing. In April 2020, she won the ODU College Poetry Prize, an honor administered through Old Dominion University’s MFA Creative Writing Program in partnership with the Poetry Society of Virginia.At the time, Good, then publishing under the name Renée Macklin, was recognized for a poem, “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs,” that judges praised for its layered reflections on memory, belief, and the human body. Her work had also appeared in literary outlets, including Metrosphere and Coronado Literary Review.Her award-winning poem, “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs,” later republished following her death, underscores her distinctive voice and introspective style.