Candlelight vigil in Riverhead mourns Minneapolis woman killed by ICE agent

Dozens of people gathered outside Riverhead Town Hall Friday evening for a candlelight vigil in memory of Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis woman who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Wednesday morning.

The Riverhead event was one of several vigils held across the East End Friday, part of a broader wave of protests and candlelight gatherings nationwide following Good’s death.

Good, 37 and a mother of three, was seated in her vehicle on a Minneapolis street when an ICE agent opened fire, according to cellphone videos of the encounter. The Department of Homeland Security later identified the agent as Jonathan Ross. The FBI is investigating the shooting.

Top administration officials, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, have described Good and others at the scene as agitators, with Noem calling the confrontation “an act of domestic terrorism.” President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Noem have publicly said the agent acted in self-defense, asserting that Good tried to strike him with her vehicle. Trump wrote on social media that Good “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer,” adding that the officer was “recovering in the hospital.”

Videos circulating online appear to conflict with those characterizations. In footage recorded by Ross, Good turns her steering wheel to the right, away from agents near the vehicle, as she attempts to drive away. A bystander’s video shows Ross firing three shots into Good’s vehicle from close range, then walking toward the crash right after it happened.

Ross’ video also captures what appears to be Good’s last words. Seated at the wheel with one arm resting on the door through the open window, she looks up at him and says, “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.”

At the Riverhead vigil, attendees expressed anger not only about the shooting, but also about how top administration officials described the encounter.

People arrived carrying signs demanding “Justice for Renee Good” and urging people to speak out against ICE and the administration’s deportation policies. A young local couple brought a framed photo of Good and a bouquet of roses.

The East End vigils were intended to provide a space to grieve and to “honor Good and other victims who lost their lives in federal enforcement actions or in custody,” Brienne Ahearn, one of the organizers, said in an interview Friday morning.

Ahearn said 37 people “died at the hands of ICE or in federal detention as a result of immigration enforcement activities” in 2025, “and two so far this year.” She said she was referring to Good and a Los Angeles man who was fatally shot by an off-duty ICE officer on New Year’s Eve.

For many at the Riverhead vigil, recent ICE activity hit close to home. Federal agents have been active locally in recent weeks, making arrests in Riverhead, Flanders and other East End communities. When Ahearn offered the microphone to anyone who wanted to speak, several people shared their experiences and concerns.

Osman Canales, a local community advocate who has been tracking ICE activity across Long Island, was among the first to speak.

“Our immigrant communities are living in constant fear and pain. This fear is also deeply affecting our broader communities,” Canales said. “Businesses are struggling to stay open because customers are afraid to leave their homes and workers are not showing up to work. Classrooms are nearly empty, and parents are asking for help because they’re terrified to bring their children to school.”

“I have spent countless hours on the streets, monitoring and reporting ICE activity,” he said. “I have personally witnessed mass unidentified individuals abducting workers on their way to work, while dropping off their children to school, or simply while getting breakfast or groceries in the morning.”

“We have seen ICE racially profiling and detaining innocent workers without judicial warrants. ICE has entered homes, ripping families apart and leaving children without their parents. We have also witnessed acts of cruelty and brutality,” Canales said.

“Just a few weeks ago here in Riverhead, ICE stopped a 15-year-old boy while he was walking to school for practice and demanded to see his identification — a 15-year-old boy on his way to school,” Canales said. “We are witnessing far too much abuse and violence, and we are calling for ICE accountability and an immediate end to these practices.”

He thanked people for attending.

“Your presence is very important now, in this time that we’re living in,” Canales said. “We’re so grateful for all of you, for all that you’re doing. We see you. You are valued by our community.”

Alejandro Dubon Godoy of Riverhead also spoke. He has followed federal agents locally and recorded an arrest that took place on East Main Street on Dec. 29.

RiverheadLOCAL previously reported on multiple arrests witnesses said they observed during immigration enforcement activity in Riverhead.

See: Immigration enforcement sweeps through Riverhead Monday, with at least three arrests reported by witnesses (Dec. 30)

“Many of the people I know didn’t vote for what’s happening now,” Dubon Godoy said in an interview at the vigil.

“They voted for something they wanted to see fixed in this country — not for things to get worse, not for our rights to be violated, not for people to be trampled on,” he said.

“We are being treated as if we weren’t people,” he said. “So, those of us who can are going out to raise our voices,” even though it may put them at personal risk. “We take the risk to save a family member, a friend, a fellow countryman, so they can return home and be with their family.”

Ahearn read aloud a poem written by Good for a college class she took several years ago. The poem, “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs,” explores reconciling scientific learning with spiritual belief, and was a 2020 Academy of American Poets Prize winner at Old Dominion University, according to published reports.

Susan Steinmann of Mastic Beach led the group in song.

Others spoke about opposing ICE practices and the administration’s deportation policies, and about the need for solidarity and mutual support.

Ian Wilder of Riverhead said he is worried about his child’s safety in school, a concern heightened, he said, by videos he has seen of ICE agents “attacking a school and filming themselves doing it as if it were some kind of game.”

Wilder also described attempting to speak with someone in Rep. Nick LaLota’s office about his concerns and being unable to get past the person who answers the phone. His outreach resulted only in a form response, he said.

“I plan to keep calling until I actually talk to somebody,” Wilder said. “I think we need to call our representatives every day.”

Riverhead resident John McAuliff attended holding a small sign that read, “Jerry Halpin — Tell ICE: Don’t come here!!”

McAuliff said that while resistance can lead to tragedy, the presence of people on the street can also restrict what ICE is able to do because people are watching and recording.

Noting the vigil’s location outside Town Hall, McAuliff said “the next step” is for cities and towns across the country to tell ICE it is not welcome in their communities.

“I think we need to push our new supervisor, Jerry Halpin, to do everything in his power to make sure that ICE no longer is operating within Riverhead,” McAuliff said. “People who are from other towns and villages should do the same.”

Ahearn said the turnout was “encouraging” and described the vigil as a chance to come together with “like-minded, like-hearted, like-souled people.”

She said anyone interested in joining a OLA of Eastern Long Island’s rapid response network for tracking ICE activity in the area can text their name to 631-500-5001.

Pastor Sean Murray of the First Congregational Church of Riverhead opened and closed the vigil with prayer.

“We join together in the spirit of solidarity, in the spirit of peace, knowing that goodness will prevail for our nation because of the people that surround us,” Murray said in closing.

“Gracious God,” he prayed, “we give you thanks for courageous men and women … We pray, O God, for our shopkeepers, our business owners, our landscapers, our pastors, our social workers, our hospital workers — the many who are immigrants and stand afraid this day. O God, bless us, each one your people, and be with our families and friends near and far. Protect them, O God, particularly the many who are foreign born.

“Be with this community and the many who stand in solidarity with us across Long Island and across our nation. Help our lights to continue to shine brightly and to overcome the darkness that has scarred our nation,” Murray prayed.

“Holy One, rescue us, rescue your people and save us from the evil that surrounds us. Gracious one, we know you hear our prayers and answer them, and so in these moments of silence, we lift to you our continued concern.”

RiverheadLOCAL photo gallery by Emil Breitenbach Jr.