On Thursday, January 8th over 300 members of Cooper River Indivisible community gathered along Haddon Ave for a vigil to remember the life of Renee Nicole Good.

On the morning of January 7th, a Federal ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother of a young child, Renee Nicole Good, as she drove away on a residential street in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Many of us have since seen repeated accounts of what occurred, including video recorded by eyewitnesses who were already documenting ICE activity in the neighborhood when the shooting happened.

Those witnesses did what they could in the face of unimaginable circumstances. They continued recording, they attempted to render aid, and they bore witness to Renee’s final moments—while being prevented from reaching her by ICE agents on the scene. The steadfastness of these witnesses matters. Because of them, the public can see what happened, which is in stark contrast to the false narrative put forward by this administration.

We are shaken by this loss. We encourage all members to pause, to sit with the weight of this moment, and to allow themselves to feel both the grief and the gravity of what has occurred. Empathy is our strength. Anger fuels our resolve.

The federal agent who fired three shots must be held accountable for the killing of Renee Nicole Good. And people across this country—including here in the Cooper River area—must confront the reality that this could have happened on any residential street, to any of us. With the passing of the Big Beautiful Bill, ICE has been exponentially expanded, and this is not a regionally specific threat. It is important to know that ICE is active here in our area, and every day our neighbors are being taken across our towns throughout South Jersey. 

This killing is not an isolated tragedy. It is the result of an administration that has embraced force and fear as tools of governance, expanding ICE into a largely unrestrained presence on American streets. They are attempting to intimidate and exhaust the public, flooding our lives with tragedy and relying on fatigue, confusion, and misinformation to dull our response.

They are counting on us to accept their version of events over what we can plainly see. They are counting on us to forget her name and the names of all the others before her. They are counting on us to shut down.

We cannot allow that to happen. Together, we grieve. Together, we remember. And together, we will stand for justice.