Fact Check: Does the viral photo show Renee Nicole Good who was shot by an ICE agent?
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: After the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during a crackdown in Minneapolis, images connected to the incident began circulating widely on social media.
One photo in particular was shared with the claim that the person in the image is the victim, prompting questions about the accuracy of the image.
Claim: Photo shows Renee Nicole Good
Soon after the fatal shooting, the images claiming to show Good spread on X, Instagram, and other social media platforms.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the photo even appeared on a protest sign at a rally in Chicago on January 7.
The sign stated: "Justice for Renee Nicole Good."
Fact Check: Photo misidentified as Renee Nicole Good
However, the photo does not show Good. The Old Dominion University in Virginia, her alma mater, first posted it on Facebook in 2020, identifying the woman as Gabriela Szczepankiewicz, alongside a separate, authentic photo of Good.
Both women were featured in the same list of award recipients for a 2020 poetry competition, but social media users mistakenly labeled Szczepankiewicz's photo as Good's.
Using Google's reverse-image search tools reveals the woman's photograph from an April 1, 2020, post about a poetry competition by the university's English department.
The post identified the woman in the image as Szczepankiewicz, who received an honorable mention in the competition.
The same post also features a picture of Renee Macklin, who was identified as the winner of the poetry award.
According to local news coverage, the victim was also known by the surname Macklin when she was married to her second husband, Timmy Ray Macklin Jr.
The photograph above authentically shows Good. Snopes confirmed this by cross-checking the information in the above post with key details about the shooting victim.
Protesters in Minneapolis used the same authentic photograph of Good on their signs, as seen on the university's Facebook post from 2020, with captions like "RIP RENEE, MURDERED BY ICE."
ICE operation escalates into a fatal encounter
Video of the Minneapolis ICE shooting completely contradicting ICE's account that the driver was trying to ram anyone. Looks like they were turning around to leave, and immediately lit up pic.twitter.com/PwUZkPkIVt
— Abject Zero (@AbjectZero) January 7, 2026
The shooting occurred amid a federal immigration enforcement surge targeting the Twin Cities area.
The operation involved a significant deployment of federal agents across Minneapolis and St Paul, marking one of the most aggressive crackdowns in the region in recent years.
Video footage of the incident quickly spread online, drawing scrutiny of the Department of Homeland Security account. DHS later described Good as a “domestic terrorist,” alleging that she attempted to weaponize her vehicle against law enforcement officers.
However, the available video evidence did not appear to support that characterization. In the footage, the vehicle appeared to be turning away from agents moments before shots were fired, contradicting official claims.
