Minn. archbishop pleads for peace after ICE shooting

"We need to lower the temperature of rhetoric, stop fear-filled speculation and start seeing all people as created in the image and likeness of God."

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul-Minneapolis called for prayer and an end to division after a Minnesota woman was killed by an ICE agent on Wednesday.

Law enforcement officers secure the scene in south Minneapolis, United States, on January 7, 2026, following a shooting during a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation. A woman is shot earlier in the incident and dies, according to officials. The vehicle pictured is the one in which the woman is shot. (Photo by Christian Zander/NurPhoto via AP)

“We continue to be at a time in this country when we need to lower the temperature of rhetoric, stop fear-filled speculation and start seeing all people as created in the image and likeness of God,” Hebda said in a Jan. 7 statement.

“That is as true for our immigrant sisters and brothers as it is for our elected officials and those who are responsible for enforcing our laws.”

Hebda’s statement came hours after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed in a residential area of Minneapolis Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman who lived in the Twin Cities.

Video footage of the incident on Wednesday appeared to show several officers approaching a car in the middle of the road in a neighborhood, with one grabbing the door handle and pulling on it.

The car then began to move, first in reverse, then briefly forward before an officer standing in front of it drew his gun and fired several shots.

News of the shooting prompted immediate controversy. Within hours, large groups of demonstrators began to gather at the site of the incident, with some protestors laying flowers at the site and others throwing snowballs at law enforcement officials.

The Department of Homeland Security argued that the shooting was an act of self-defense.

A statement from the department said Good was a “violent rioter” who had “weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism.”

President Donald Trump said in a statement that the woman “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the Ice Officer,” who is “now recovering in the hospital.”

According to videos of the scene, the officer who fired the shots left the scene in an unmarked car after he and other officers attempted to secure the scene of the shooting.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey rejected the claim that the shooting was done in self-defense.

“Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly - that is bullshit,” he said.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said the woman’s death was “totally predictable” and “totally avoidable.”

Walz promised an investigation and pled for residents to be peaceful in protesting.

Hebda also called for peace, saying, “It is only by working together – with God’s help – that we will have peace in our communities, state and world.”

He asked all people of good will to pray for the woman who was killed, her family, and the entire community.

“I echo today the repeated call of the U.S. Catholic bishops that we come together as a nation and pass meaningful immigration reform that does justice to all parties,” the archbishop stressed.

“The longer we refuse to grapple with this issue in the political arena, the more divisive and violent it becomes.”