In a stunning display of digital solidarity, the GoFundMe campaign for Renee Nicole Good’s family has exceeded expectations. The fund surpassed $1 million in donations within 24 hours of launch. The viral fundraiser reflects the intense public outrage surrounding the 37-year-old poet and mother’s death at the hands of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis earlier this week.
While Washington and local officials trade barbs over exactly what happened on that snowy Minneapolis street, the public has cast its vote with its wallet. Over 25,000 individual donors have flooded the page with contributions. They are offering financial support to Good’s grieving wife and three children while rejecting the “domestic terrorist” label applied to her by the Trump administration.
The campaign was launched on Wednesday evening by a close family friend, Mattie Weiss. Its initial goal was modest. It aimed simply to cover funeral expenses and provide a safety net for Good’s widow and her six-year-old son.
By Thursday night, the total had already climbed past $700,000. By Friday morning, it crossed the $1 million threshold. The page describes Good as “pure sunshine” and “pure love.” It paints a picture of a woman who was a creative force in her community rather than the violent agitator described by federal authorities.
Donations have poured in from across the globe. Comments on the page reveal contributions from the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada. Many donors cited the heartbreaking viral video of Good’s partner screaming for help as the reason they gave.
“I cannot unhear that scream,” one donor wrote alongside a $50 contribution. “She was a mom just dropping her kid off. This shouldn’t happen in America.”
Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez publicly vetted and shared the link on social media. This verification helped propel the campaign to viral status. The funds are now expected to be placed in a trust for Good’s three children. This includes two teenagers from a previous marriage and the six-year-old she shared with her late husband, who died in 2023.
The Incident That Shook Minneapolis
The tragedy unfolded on the morning of January 7, 2026. According to witnesses and family members, Good had just dropped her youngest son off at school and was driving home with her wife when they encountered an ICE operation in the Central neighborhood of Minneapolis.
A bystander video, viewed millions of times on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, shows Good’s maroon Honda Pilot stopped in the middle of Portland Avenue. Federal agents are seen surrounding the vehicle with guns drawn.
The footage shows agents giving conflicting commands. One shouts for her to exit the vehicle while another orders her to move. As Good’s car slowly moves forward ostensibly to navigate around the agents, an officer fires multiple shots through the window at close range.
The aftermath was chaotic. Good’s SUV crashed into a parked car, and her partner was filmed wailing in the street. “That’s my wife! I don’t know what to do!” she screamed. This captured a raw moment of grief that has since become the rallying cry for protests across the city.
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The narrative battle lines were drawn almost immediately. In Washington, the Trump administration moved quickly to justify the shooting. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem held a press conference on Thursday where she labeled Good a “domestic terrorist.” Noem claimed the mother of three attempted to “weaponize her SUV” to run over federal agents.
“This is an experienced officer who followed his training,” Noem stated. She insisted the agent acted in self-defense against a “violent rioter.”
However, that description stands in stark contrast to the account of the woman from those who knew her. Good was an award-winning poet who had recently moved to Minneapolis from Colorado. In 2020, she won the Academy of American Poets Prize for her work “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs” while studying at Old Dominion University.
Her social media bio described her simply as a “poet and writer and wife and mom.” Friends and family say she was not an activist and had no history of confrontations with law enforcement.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey did not mince words when responding to the federal account. In a blistering press conference, he called the self-defense claim “bulls***.”
“Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody that the narrative is false,” Frey said. He went a step further by demanding that ICE agents “get the f*** out of Minneapolis.”
The tragedy is compounded by the family’s recent history of loss. Good was a widow before she was a victim. Her second husband, comedian Tim Macklin, passed away in 2023 at the age of 36.
Tim Macklin Sr., Good’s former father-in-law, expressed shock and devastation in an interview with the Star Tribune. He described Renee as a devoted mother who was actively rebuilding her life with her new partner.
“There’s nobody else in his life,” Macklin Sr. said, referring to his six-year-old grandson who has now lost both biological parents. “I’ll drive. I’ll fly. I will do whatever it takes to come and get my grandchild.”
The GoFundMe funds will likely be crucial for the legal battles ahead. Civil rights attorneys are reportedly already circling the case. They anticipate a wrongful death lawsuit against the federal government that could take years to resolve.
While this is a hard news story, it has permeated the entertainment world due to Good’s background as an artist and the viral nature of the footage.
Several high-profile figures have shared the GoFundMe link, including musician Bon Iver and actress Viola Davis. They have used their platforms to call for accountability.
“She was a poet. She was a mother. She was unarmed,” Davis posted on Instagram late Thursday. “We cannot become numb to this. Donate if you can. Demand answers if you can’t.”
The literary community is also mourning one of its own. The Academy of American Poets released a statement honoring Good’s work and expressing “profound sorrow” at the violence that cut her life and her art short.
Protests Intensify
As the donations climb, so does the temperature on the streets. Thursday night saw thousands of protesters gather at the site of the shooting on Portland Avenue. They created a massive candlelight vigil that stretched for blocks.
Demonstrators also marched to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, where a standoff with federal agents briefly turned tense. Tear gas was deployed to disperse the crowd, but the protesters returned Friday morning with renewed resolve.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has promised a full investigation but noted that his office is facing obstruction. Reports indicate that federal authorities have restricted state investigators’ access to evidence and the scene. This sets up a jurisdictional showdown between the state of Minnesota and the Department of Justice.
For now, the only thing clear is that Renee Nicole Good’s death has struck a nerve that goes far beyond Minneapolis. The $1 million raised in her name is a testament to a public that is heartbroken, angry, and refusing to look away.
