‘It’s just sad:’ Large group gathers at DeKalb vigil to mourn Minnesota woman fatally shot by ICE

A group of more than 100 people held candles, sang, and prayed together in English and Spanish at Peace Corner in DeKalb Friday night to mourn a woman killed by federal agents in Minnesota on Wednesday.

The woman, Renee Nicole Macklin Good, was shot in the head in a residential neighborhood just south of downtown Minneapolis, The Associated Press reported.

Peace Corner downtown was lit by candles placed in the area by the group Esperanza Latina for the vigil.

“This isn’t about being loud and scandalous,” Veronica Garcia-Martinez, an event organizer, said. “It’s about having some peace.”

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Vigil-goers gather holding lit candles in downtown DeKalb at Memorial Park on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, for a vigil to remember the life of Renee Nicole Good, 37, a Minnesota mother who was shot and killed by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, 2026. Organizers said the vigil was meant to provide a peaceful place to mourn as President Donald Trump's violent immigration enforcement sweeps across the country grow more divisive. (Devin Oommen for Shaw Local)

Garcia-Martinez said she was more hurt than angry and said she believes self deportations are becoming more prominent as aggression like that seen in Minnesota increases.

“What broke me was seeing a comment of a man who said ‘Who do I call? Tell them I’m ready, send me back. I don’t care if I die where I came from,’” Garcia-Martinez said. “That’s what broke me.”

Good, 37, was a mother of three and a poet who had just moved to Minneapolis, The Associated Press reported.

Garcia-Martinez said the objective of the event was to have 32 minutes of prayer in remembrance of 32 lives that have been lost while in ICE custody in 2025.

DeKalb resident Payten Jarvis described the actions of federal agents as despicable. For Jarvis, it was important to mourn with the community.

“To be here tonight is really important, to see my community out here and to listen to what others are saying and think about people who have died in detention and been hurt by ICE in the past year,” Jarvis said. “It’s just sad that we had to meet like this.”

Immediately following the shooting, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem described the incident as an act of domestic terrorism carried out against ICE agents. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance reinforced that narrative on Thursday.

But local Minneapolis officials and bystanders, including video captured from multiple angles, have disputed that narrative repeatedly.

Good was a U.S citizen born in Colorado and never charged with anything beyond a single traffic ticket, The AP reported.

Illinois Democrats have denounced the shooting and called for a full investigation and transparency by DHS and the Trump administration.

Reports emerged late Thursday that border patrol agents shot two people in Portland, Oregon.

Garcia-Martinez called on the mayors of DeKalb, Cortland and Sycamore to implement policies to protect the local immigrant community.

Illinois law enforcement is barred under the Trust Act from participating in federal immigration action. But that hasn’t stopped local fear.

“We have mixed-status households in all three of those places. If they’re going to start going door to door are we going to allow that?” Garcia-Martinez said. “You can’t tell anybody’s legal status just by looking at them. So why are we going to allow untrained immigration agents to come in and think that they have that power to do so?”