ZANESVILLE – A group of approximately 55 protestors came together at the Muskingum County Courthouse on Jan. 8 for an anti-ICE gathering and candlelight vigil for Renee Good, the 37-year-old woman fatally shot in a volatile interaction in Minneapolis one day earlier.
The dozens of angered citizens gathered around for a few public speakers, like Muskingum County NAACP President and protest organizer Kyle Johnson, were eventually surprised and chagrinned by a small contingent of four other community members there to stand in favor of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Your heart is full of pure hate,” yelled one woman toward the pocket of counter protestors, which included Amy Sandoe, a Nashport resident.
“We have to protect our borders, and I’m all for people coming here with the right intentions and for the right reasons,” Sandoe explained to the Times Recorder. “I have friends that have done this the right way, and these people that are here illegally, that ICE is trying to take back and set a precedence for these people, are cheapening what these other people have done.”
Dory Kinsey of Zanesville came to the vigil sign in hand, and with a differing stance. She wants a better world for her grandbabies, she told the TR, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why she attended. “I want peace in this world,” she shared.
Among the public speakers were Amy Underwood, president of the Muskingum County Women’s Democratic Club, and Keith Wyatt II, the political action chair for the local NAACP and pastor of Calvary Missionary Baptist Church.
Wyatt’s booming voice against hate rang out across downtown. “And God says tonight, ‘Woe to Donald Trump. He says woe to ICE. He says woe to those in America that create oppressive laws, and even woe to the American church who participates in those unjust laws.”
Good, who was a U.S. citizen, was killed a day after the Department Homeland Security deployed hundreds of agents in Minneapolis for “immigration enforcement action,” USA TODAY reported Jan. 7.
Video circulating online shows multiple law enforcement officers approaching Good’s SUV, which was stopped in the middle of a street. Good briefly reverses before driving forward, beginning to turn right. As the vehicle begins to move forward, another officer standing near the front driver’s side draws his gun and fires multiple times.
The agent fired three shots, one at the front windshield and two more through the open driver’s side window as Good moves past.
Some lawmakers called for the arrest of the officer in the shooting, identified in court documents as Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Jonathan Ross.
The Minneapolis City Council has demanded that Immigration and Customs Enforcement leave the city. The Trump administration has asserted that the agent fired in self-defense, but local leaders disagreed, USA Today noted.
The officers were reportedly in the Minneapolis for a fraud scandal believed to be connected with Somali immigrants, federal authorities previously stated.
Shawn Digity is a reporter for the Zanesville Times Recorder. He can be emailed at sdigity@gannett.com or found on X at @ShawnDigityZTR.
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Protesters call for justice after ICE shooting sparks national outcry
Reporting by Shawn Digity, Zanesville Times Recorder / Zanesville Times Recorder
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
