‘With her big cowboy hat on’: Kristi Noem made a shocking claim about woman killed by ICE agent, but the video tells a different story

A woman was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Shortly after, Senator Tina Smith from Minnesota started getting information from people who were at the scene. Smith has close connections with community activists in her state, and some of them went to the shooting location and shared what witnesses saw.

According to HuffPost, when Smith finally watched a video of the shooting on social media, she was still shocked even though she already knew some details. “I literally gasped in pain and horror. When you’re in my job, you have to try to really, fully understand what is happening, at the same time that you’re having, you know, a very human reaction to this awful tragedy,” she said.

While Smith was still watching the video, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appeared on TV in her office. What Noem said was completely different from what the witnesses told Smith and what the video showed. Noem claimed the woman who was shot, later named as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, had committed “an act of domestic terrorism” by trying to run over an ICE agent with her car.

Noem’s version directly conflicts with multiple video angles

Smith was disgusted by what she heard from Noem. “Kristi Noem, with her big cowboy hat on, telling us all exactly what had happened, and it was so clearly at odds with the one eyewitness video that I’d seen at that point. I was just disgusted to see them immediately try to spin this and gaslight people about what had happened,” she said. 

Smith knew that one video can only show one angle, but Noem’s claim still didn’t match the evidence. Multiple videos from different angles show that Good, who was a mother of three children, was apparently trying to drive away. 

The videos don’t show her doing anything threatening or violent toward the ICE agents on the street. One person at the scene told reporters that Good seemed obviously scared and was just trying to leave. President Donald Trump later backed up Noem’s version of what happened. He added more harsh language and falsely claimed on social media that Good “violently, willfully and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.”

The president’s history of controversial statements and shocking behavior has drawn criticism from officials across the country. Vice President JD Vance also blamed Good for being shot during a Thursday briefing, claiming without evidence that she belonged to a “broader left-wing network.”

After Minnesota officials disagreed with the federal government’s version, the state was blocked from investigating the shooting. On Thursday, Minnesota state investigators said the FBI was stopping them from accessing evidence they needed to investigate. The FBI normally works with Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on investigations, but not this time. The BCA made it clear that federal officials were blocking them.

Smith said she was very angry about how the Trump administration responded. She explained that people in her community now see the federal government as an enemy. Many people feel they can’t trust the government and believe officials are killing people on the street. This isn’t the first time public figures faced backlash over controversial moments from their past. 

Smith’s office immediately called the FBI when they learned state investigators were being blocked. They told the FBI this was unacceptable. Smith warned that people in Minnesota won’t believe the FBI’s investigation will be fair, especially after top Trump officials already tried to blame Good for the shooting.