Arsonist sets fire to memorial for Renee Good, the queer mother killed by ICE agents

An arsonist set fire to a public memorial for Renee Good, the queer mother of three killed by an ICE agent last month, by dousing a nearby woodpile with gasoline around 9 p.m. Tuesday night. Lesbian Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) pledged an investigation, and the Minneapolis Police Department has begun conducting one, though no suspect has been identified or arrested yet.
Photojournalist Ryan Vizzions posted video of the damage, showing that the entire memorial wasn’t damaged. Neighbors in a nearby apartment building used two fire extinguishers to put out the fire before police and firefighters arrived, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune. No one was injured.
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“We’ve been hypervigilant in our neighborhood, and obviously everyone’s keeping an eye out all of the time,” said Wren Clinefelter, who lives near the memorial. “So it’s definitely very disheartening to hear that someone would try and burn down a memorial for a woman who was
In a post on X published Wednesday, Rep. Craig wrote, “Renee’s family and the Minneapolis community deserve the chance to mourn her. This is unacceptable and we must hold anyone involved in this hateful incident accountable.”
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Last night the memorial for Renee Good was set on fire and destroyed.
— Angie Craig (@RepAngieCraig) February 18, 2026
Renee’s family and the Minneapolis community deserve the chance to mourn her. This is unacceptable and we must hold anyone involved in this hateful incident accountable.https://t.co/bd2f9oWYRf
Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez posted a picture of the fire’s damage and called the arson “despicable.”
Last night, there was attempted arson at Renee Good’s memorial at 33rd and Portland with gasoline being poured on the fence, near the front yard of the house, and throughout the memorial. This is despicable. 1/
— Jason Chavez (@jchavezmpls.bsky.social) 2026-02-18T14:54:33.945Z
In a statement, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) said, “We will always prioritize giving our community space to grieve and heal…. Everyone should respect the space around the memorial. We are working on next steps, including engaging the community to preserve the memorials at the Renee Good and Alex Pretti sites.”
Pretti was an ICU nurse with the Department of Veterans Affairs who was killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis last month.
Recently, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in “Operation Metro Surge” caused over $200 million in economic damage to the city, including $81 million in business losses, $47 million in lost wages, $15.7 million in rent assistance, and $4.7 million in hotel cancellations.
“The federal government needs to pay for what they broke here. There [is] going to be accountability on the things that happened, but one of the things is the incredible and immense costs that were borne by the people of this state,” Walz said.
Walz called upon the state’s federal congressional delegation to be “doing the things necessary” to get the state reimbursed, though Frey said, “I’m not naive to think that we’re going to get the entire amount.”
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