Minneapolis ICE Shooter Told Longtime Neighbor He Was a Botanist: ‘I Had No Idea He Was an ICE Agent’ (Exclusive)
“It really creeps me out that those are my neighbors — that that’s the kind of people I live next to,” the Chaska, Minn., resident tells PEOPLE. “I just assumed all the ICE agents were like, from Texas and Arizona and Florida”
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ICE agents in Minneapolis. Credit :
Christopher Juhn/Anadolu via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
A neighbor of ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis last week, tells PEOPLE about her shock to learn that he was employed by the Department of Homeland Security
The woman, who lives in the Minneapolis suburb of Chaska, Minn., says she met Ross once at a neighborhood party and he said he was a botanist
She also says that officers were seen removing belongings from Ross’ home following the shooting, and that a police car has been patrolling his neighborhood
The Jan. 7 shooting death of Renee Good by ICE officer Jonathan Ross has shocked the world and shaken the Minneapolis community.
Bystander videos of the incident showed Ross, who was masked, firing multiple close-range shots into Renee’s vehicle, including through the driver’s side front window. The vehicle then crashed into cars parked along Portland Avenue, less than a mile away from the spot where George Floydwas killed by police in 2020,
Law enforcement sources confirmed to PEOPLE that Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, suffered gunshot wounds to the head. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
A woman who lives in Ross’ neighborhood in the Minneapolis suburb of Chaska, Minn., tells PEOPLE that she was shocked to hear the news — particularly because she was under the impression he was in an entirely different field of work.
The woman met Ross once at a neighborhood garage party during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, where she says he described his job to guests.
“He said he worked with plants, as a botanist, so he lied about what he did,” she claims.
The neighbor says that Ross kept to himself in the neighborhood, and they never learned he was a federal agent until he was identified in the aftermath of Good’s death.
“[He said he] enjoyed border control… but loved plants,” she says. “So when I found out he was the one on the news, I said, ‘What! That’s so crazy!’ I had no idea he was an ICE agent.”
PEOPLE has reached out to Ross for comment.
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The neighbor says she saw agents moving Ross’ belongings out of his house following the shooting, and notes that there has been a patrol car monitoring the address.
“It really creeps me out that those are my neighbors — that that’s the kind of people I live next to. It’s really upsetting,” she says, adding, “I just assumed all the ICE agents were like, from Texas and Arizona and Florida.”
Speaking to her unease, she says, “I think it impacted a lot of our neighbors that way. People really haven’t been talking about it because you just want to maintain some peace on the road — you don’t want to start fights. But it’s just really hard to process. And then every day, you hear about more people getting detained.”
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A memorial for Renee Good was set up by members of the community on Jan. 8.
Jaida Grey Eagle/Bloomberg via Getty
New cell phone footage of the shooting, shared on X on Jan. 9 by Alpha News and described by the organization as being from Ross’ perspective, showed the confrontation between Good and the officer.
“That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you,” Good is heard telling the person behind the camera. Her wife, Becca Good, is shown recording Ross on her phone.
Another ICE officer, seen in footage taken from other angles attempting to open Good’s driver’s side door, yells, “Get out of the car. Get out of the car. Get out of the f—ing car!”
Good is seen reversing the car and then turning the wheel to the right as she drives forward, while her wife says, “Drive, baby, drive — drive!”
At that point, multiple gunshots can be heard. After that, a voice behind the camera says, “F—ing bitch.”
The clip ends with the sound of a crash.
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Shortly after the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Good refused commands to get out of her vehicle and then tried to run over federal agents, claiming her actions amounted to a “domestic act of terrorism,” according to CBS.
Vice President JD Vance seemed to agree in a post on X on Friday, writing that the Alpha News video showed that the ICE agent’s life was “endangered” and that he “fired in self-defense.”
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But state and local officials have expressed opposite takeaways from the video evidence.
“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense, having seen the video for myself, I want to tell everybody directly, that is bulls—,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a press conference on Jan. 8. “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody getting killed.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz reposted a DHS statement on X on Jan. 7, writing, “I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine.”
