ICE shooting reverberates in Eugene at demonstrations, candlelight vigil

At a hotspot for protest activity in downtown Eugene, the mood was somber under dark and drizzly skies Wednesday, Jan. 7.

Seventeen people — including Mayor Kaarin Knudson — stood at a corner of Eugene’s downtown federal building at about 6:20 p.m., with several holding electric candles to memorialize 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, the woman shot and killed in Minneapolis by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the Wednesday morning shooting took place in response to “domestic terrorism,” as the vehicle driven by Good moved toward the officer standing in front of the vehicle before he fired his weapon.

But other observers noted how in the brief encounter — captured by bystander video — Good appeared to steer so as to avoid the man, who had moments earlier walked in front of the vehicle. ICE officers appeared to yell at her to get out of the vehicle while it was stopped before it moved forward and she was shot and killed.

Those gathered at the downtown federal building in Eugene, which houses an ICE office, spoke out against the shooting and described Good’s death as hitting close to home. 

“We have seen how dangerous and reckless the behavior of people acting on the behalf of this administration have been, but there is a woman whose life is over, and a family who are missing her in Minnesota tonight,” Knudson said. 

“The decisions were horrific and reckless, and the consequences are lifelong for that person and that community. It’s deeply humiliating to our country to see our citizens’ and neighbors’ lives be treated with such disregard,” she continued.

Knudson said she learned of the vigil event from a friend and decided to attend after a day of meetings. She said the community will “stand together.”

“We will not accept these actions as normal. This is abhorrent behavior, and the people who made those choices need to be held accountable for their decisions,” Knudson said, stating that Good “should be alive.”

Others in attendance described their sense of loss at the death of Good, described in news accounts by her family as compassionate and kind.

Some accounts have described her as a “legal observer,” a term typically used to describe those monitoring law enforcement officers during protests or other events, though bystander video appeared to show the vehicle driven by Good partially blocking the roadway.

“This is a watershed event, because it could have been any of us, and this person is dead,” said Abby Gershenzon, herself a legal observer of protest activity at the federal building who’s involved with the Civil Liberties Defense Center.

Gershenzon is also involved with other community organizations, including the migrant support organizations Rapid Response Lane County and the Oregon Community Asylum Network.

Latiffe Amado said she’s a frequent legal observer at the federal building. She criticized the administration of President Donald Trump and expressed concern about rights being stripped away.

Amado said she’s “very concerned about the potential of any one of me or my peers getting getting caught under this hatred — this is the ‘domestic terrorism.’”

Earlier in the day, weekly protests against immigration enforcement activity took on an angry edge. In a megaphone, one protester who declined to give his name said he frequently attends protests at the federal building. Through the megaphone, he loudly denounced “state-sanctioned murders.” 

“Why are my tax dollars going toward murdering a woman in Minneapolis?” he said. A heavy downpour likely affected the afternoon turnout, however, as only about a dozen were present at about 1:30 p.m.

Less vocal but no less upset were Barbara Stebbins, 75, and Larry Kelp, 77. The married couple said Wednesday afternoon they had not planned to attend the weekly protest event until learning of the fatal ICE shooting.

“I was outraged,” Kelp said. “To me, it looked like the woman who got shot was scared of these ICE agents coming up to her window and trying to open her door, and was trying to get away from that.”

“This is what Trump is doing, he’s trying to scare us all by making ICE be so brutal,” Stebbins said. 

She added: “They have to be just as mean as they can, and it’s scary.”

Posts on social media described a planned protest rally at 11 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 8, at Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza, 799 Oak St., with the posts calling for justice for Good and also for a stop to “ICE terror.”