The Trump administration swiftly labeled a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman killed by a federal officer a “violent rioter” who committed an act of “domestic terrorism,” issuing the accusation before any independent investigation had determined what happened or why.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other administration officials moved aggressively to defend Immigration and Customs Enforcement after an officer shot Renee Nicole Good three times through the driver’s side window of her vehicle during a chaotic confrontation Wednesday. Officials claimed the officer was “surrounded and assaulted” by protesters — an account that appears sharply at odds with video footage and eyewitness testimony.

Noem appeared alongside ICE officials in New York City one day after the shooting, identifying the officer as Jonathan Ross and insisting he followed his training. “This is an experienced officer who followed his training, and we will continue to let the investigation unfold,” Noem said, even as she repeatedly characterized Good’s actions as terrorism.

Video from the scene, however, does not appear to show any imminent threat that would justify lethal force. Footage shows masked ICE officers approaching Good’s Honda Pilot on a residential street. One officer can be seen filming with his phone while another vehicle drives past without incident. As additional ICE vehicles arrive, officers surround Good’s car and begin shouting commands.

At least one officer can be heard yelling “get out of the f car” while another reaches for the driver’s door handle. At the same time, witnesses say Good was also ordered to move her vehicle. Her car backs up slightly, then begins to pull forward and angle to the right to get around another SUV. As the vehicle moves, the officer standing in front steps aside — then fires the first shot. Two more shots follow from the side of the vehicle as it accelerates and crashes into a parked car down the street.

Despite this sequence, Noem told reporters Thursday that Good had followed officers all day, harassed them, blocked them in, and ultimately struck an agent with her vehicle. “She hit him,” Noem said, adding that the officer was treated at a hospital and released.

President Donald Trump echoed that claim on Truth Social, asserting that Good “viciously ran over the ICE Officer” and suggesting it was “hard to believe he is alive.” No evidence supporting that characterization has been publicly released.

Eyewitness accounts directly contradict the administration’s narrative. Caitlin Callenson, who recorded video of the incident, told Minnesota Public Radio that officers initially appeared stuck in a snowbank and that neighbors believed an enforcement action was underway. By the time Good parked her vehicle perpendicular to traffic, she said, the ICE vehicle had already been freed.

Callenson said officers gave Good conflicting orders — telling her both to leave and to exit her car — while physically preventing her from doing either. “There was an ICE agent in front of her vehicle,” she said. “So it was difficult for her to leave, as she’d been ordered to do.”

According to Good’s ex-husband, she had just dropped off her 6-year-old son at school and was driving home with her partner when she encountered the scene.

The shooting has ignited fury from local officials. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey dismissed Homeland Security’s justification outright. “To ICE, get the f* out of Minneapolis,” Frey said, calling the agency’s defense of the officer’s actions “bull**.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said state authorities have been shut out of the investigation, which has been taken over by the FBI. “People in positions of power have already passed judgment,” Walz said. “They have stood and told you things that are verifiably false.”

It remains unclear whether Ross was wearing a body-worn camera or whether Homeland Security will release footage from the officer’s phone, which appears prominently in the video. Noem said local officials have “no jurisdiction” over the investigation.

The killing comes amid a massive escalation of federal immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities, part of what Homeland Security has described as its “largest operation ever.” Minneapolis is home to roughly 80,000 people of Somali ancestry — most of whom are U.S. citizens or legal residents — and has become a focal point of the administration’s rhetoric about fraud and immigration.