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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Outrage After ICE Agent Kills Woman In Minneapolis; U.S. Seizes Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker Linked To Venezuela. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 08, 2026 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:00:20]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers, joining us from the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon.

It is Thursday, January 8th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York, 4:00 a.m. in Minneapolis.

That's where protesters and city leaders are demanding the arrest and prosecution of an immigration agent who shot and killed a U.S. citizen. People have been gathering near the site to remember 37-year- old Renee Nicole Good, who was not the target of any ICE operation.

A number of videos show what happened. We do want to warn you, though, that they are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No! No! Shame!

(GUNFIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame! Oh my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) god! What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED)? What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED)? You just (EXPLETIVE DELETED). What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) did you do?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Here's the same video, but in slow motion. You see two agents approaching the maroon SUV. One officer grabs the door handle and reaches inside the car. The woman appears to drive away, or at least try to drive away. A third officer in front of the vehicle opens fire, then three times. Another angle shows that same officer on the right of the screen. Take a look

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

SOLOMON: All right. Once more in slow motion. This video appears to show the vehicle making contact with the agent who opened fire. And a third video reveals another detail. Authorities say that the woman was blocking ICE agents with her

vehicle. But you can see several other cars driving around her just before the shooting. And a fourth video that shows the tragic end to the incident. You see the SUV careening down the street and then crashing into that white parked car.

State and local officials in Minnesota are criticizing claims from the Trump administration that the ICE agent was acting in self-defense. Minnesota's governor says that his administration will, quote, stop at nothing to seek accountability and justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D), MINNESOTA: What we're seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict. It's governing by reality TV. And today, that recklessness cost someone their life.

From here on, I have a very simple message. We do not need any further help from the federal government. To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, you've done enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, wants ICE out of his city and condemned the agency for sowing chaos and distrust

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JACOB FREY (D), MINNEAPOLIS: They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video of myself, I want to tell everybody directly, that is bullshit. To ICE: Get the fuck out of Minneapolis.

We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the agent's actions, saying that he feared for his life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It's very clear that this individual was harassing and impeding law enforcement operations. Our officer followed his training, did exactly what he's been taught to do in that situation, and took actions to defend himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: President Trump, echoing Homeland Security's explanation of the shooting, he also blamed what he calls the radical left for, quote, threatening, assaulting and targeting our law enforcement officers and ICE agents on a daily basis.

Let's get to the scene now and bring in CNN's Brian Abel, who is live this hour in Minneapolis at the scene of the shooting.

Brian, good morning to you.

Talk to us about what it's like there on the ground. Obviously, it's very early in Minneapolis. What are you hearing? What are you seeing?

BRIAN ABEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rahel. It is also very quiet here. Good morning to you. But there are some interesting things that are happening here in this area where the shooting happened yesterday.

First, I want to show you what is behind me here. This is the vigil. Still going strong here at this hour, at the very same spot where there was blood staining the snow there where Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed here yesterday. But also, I do want to show you here if you take a look this way, this is something that we are seeing this morning.

This is the community coming together here in this neighborhood to protect these streets, to make sure that there's no other vehicles that can come through in an attack style like we have seen at other places.

[05:05:09]

So they are not waiting on law enforcement to protect them. They're taking it upon themselves. So, we see the community not only coming together to protect each other, but also there's that community feeling of providing food and water and heat as well.

And this is at all areas adjacent to this intersection here. So these are just some of the things that we are seeing so far this morning. We're also getting the sense from talking with some of the people here in this area of just how tragic this situation is, Rahel. This is not the first time that Minneapolis has experienced something like this, and they've also been experiencing ICE agents in their streets for a while now.

And one of the things that really stood out to me this morning is as we were coming here and talking with the people here to make sure that it's okay, that we can come into this area. One of the things that somebody told me was well, clearly, you're not an ICE agent because you're not covering your face. So that really just stood out to me.

The sense of how people are feeling about federal agents here in this community, but not lost in all of this, is the person who lost their life, Renee Good, 37 year 37-year-old. She was a mother of three. She moved here in 2024, Rahel, with her partner.

And so, we're still learning more. She came from the Kansas City area last. Her mother says that that she was an incredible person, a kind, caring person. So, these are some of the details that we are learning this morning as we continue throughout this.

SOLOMON: Yeah, and, Brian, I'm wondering if any of the neighbors you've been able to speak to you know, knew the victim if they were able to share any sort of anecdotes about what she was like, just give us more of a sense of some of your conversations with neighbors there.

ABEL: Yeah, still very early. But it's just this -- this sense of somebody that was here trying to protect the community as well. We are getting some new details from different video that we are seeing this morning that shows that she was in this intersection for about three minutes, at least her vehicle was perpendicular before the shooting happened. And you can also hear in those videos the neighbors talking about -- talking about you shot my friend, you shot my neighbor, you killed my neighbor.

So regardless of how long she was in this neighborhood for, when she moved to the Twin Cities, that's kind of the feeling of this community here, is that she was one of them, and she was taken from them.

So, there is a deep sense of mourning here at this moment, peaceful morning, also peaceful protest that we have seen so far as the mayor has been urging. So, these are just some of the scenes that we're seeing.

And also, I do want to share with you that the Minneapolis schools they are closing school today, as well as a precautionary measure.

SOLOMON: Brian Abel, we appreciate you being on the ground there for us in Minneapolis. Thank you.

CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller, spoke to CNN about some of the tactical and legal issues surrounding the shooting. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: It appears when the vehicle and the agent may contact, he is already opened fire on the vehicle, and the vehicle is attempting to escape. Now, there's a bunch of issues here. One is it is against pretty much all tactical policy of major law enforcement agencies to place yourself in front of a moving vehicle and draw your weapon.

The DHS policy is not to shoot at a moving vehicle. It limits what can be done about shooting at fleeing felons because it endangers the other people around. Something that jumps out at me that as he's firing at the woman who is in the drivers seat, he's firing literally a little more than a foot away from two of his partners who are standing in that same place in that line of fire.

So, it raises a number of tactical concerns, and that's how it's going to be looked at. What were the tactical issues here? What were the policy issues here? But most importantly, what were the legal issues here? Was that agent legally justified? How will he articulate why he thought he was legally justified?

And key to that is how will that be measured against what a reasonable agent with similar training would have done in the same circumstance?

(END VIDEO CLIP) SOLOMON: Okay, let's get some more perspective from attorney, immigration analyst, "USA Today" contributor, and CNN opinion writer Raul Reyes.

Great to see you again this morning. Unfortunately, under these circumstances.

But, Raul, when you look at the video from the different angles, what we've seen so far, does it look like self-defense to you? Does it look like it was legally justifiable force? What do you see?

RAUL REYES, CNN OPINION WRITER: Look, because this incident has been captured at so many different angles by bystanders and witnesses, I think at this early stage, it's very easy to draw different conclusions.

[05:10:05]

For me, it does not appear that this officer was ever in danger of imminent harm or potentially loss of life when he fired the shots. But it's early on.

That's why we will have an investigation going forward. But the saddest and most tragic aspect of this case is that it was very -- it was -- it was very predictable in a sense. We have ICE officers using lethal force going into civilian communities. They're in tactical gear. They are highly militarized. This is a recipe for disaster.

And when we factor in the reality that these communities are very anxious, they're very afraid and scared of ICE writ large, it's almost, you know, this almost was inevitable. And sadly, Renee Good has lost her life.

One thing that is particularly disturbing to me is that this young woman, her body was still in the car. And our national political leaders were already weighing in on the case, drawing conclusions. And that's something that is only going to make a very volatile public situation worse.

SOLOMON: Well, yeah, I mean, to that point, I mean, what about how the woman's body was handled? I mean, we have reporting that she was carried by the arms and legs and set on the ground until an ambulance could arrive, by some estimates, some 15 minutes. I mean, or how much does that inflame an already volatile situation?

REYES: A great deal. And it raises very important questions. For example, if ICE is conducting these raids as they have been since Trump took office, if they are using such high grade military style weapons, why are they not also traveling with medics in these groups? We see in one of the videos earlier that a physician arrived who just -- he stated that he wanted to take her pulse and was denied access.

Now that is just taking someone's pulse, checking for vitals. That is just basic regard for human life. Those videos, I think, are very much an indictment of the recklessness and almost sense of impunity that we've seen ICE agents act on again and again.

And it's also worth noting, as these competing narratives are emerging, that that our department of homeland security has been -- has been -- has a history in this administration of making demonstrable falsehoods. They are not -- they have harmed their own credibility in the past. That seems not to be -- what is potentially happening today with the secretary immediately labeling Ms. Good a domestic terrorist.

But remember, this is not happening in a void. Part of the reason we're seeing such an outcry already is more than half of Americans think Donald Trump, his administration's immigration enforcement actions have gone too far. Gone too far, 53 percent. Only 38 percent of Americans even support his immigration agenda.

So, we may be approaching, say, a perfect storm where we have an outraged public. This militarized force and an administration that is deeply committed to conducting what seems like a campaign of terror in immigrant communities all across the country, even when local officials do not need their help.

I'm from Los Angeles. And when I look at these types of pictures, my danger is that we will see another eruption of community protests, which leads to more militarized response, and then potentially more loss of life or harm.

SOLOMON: You made the issue a moment ago that, you know, it's still early in the investigation, understandably, but what more would you expect to see in this type of investigation? And are ICE agents required to wear body camera footage the way other officers are? Would you expect to see that type of video in a situation like that? Does that exist here?

REYES: It is unclear as far as the reporting I've seen, whether such body cam footage exists, because ICE officers are not required to wear body cam footage. And in such a sensitive case, even, say hypothetically, if this officer were wearing body cam footage, I think because the case is already so -- such a public case, it would be very difficult for DHS to release that and make it publicly available. That's probably something that would not come out until the trial -- until a trial or special investigation.

Going forward, what I hope is that because we have this already disagreement between local leaders like the mayor and federal officials about the basic facts of the case, I hope that we have some type of independent prosecutor come in.

[05:15:10]

There's a great deal of video around this terrible incident, that they can piece together. What happened, get testimony from the officer, and ideally find a fact based narrative of what actually occurred, what led to the -- to the killing of Ms. Good and to people who say she was disobeying an officer or that perhaps she was not complying with the demands to get out of her car, even if she were doing that, that is no grounds. That is -- does not warrant a death sentence. SOLOMON: Okay. We'll leave it here. Raul Reyes, appreciate your legal expertise and insights this morning. Thank you.

REYES: Thank you.

SOLOMON: President Trump says that the U.S. could be running Venezuela for a long time, but the U.S. Senate could potentially limit his war powers in the country. We'll explain after the break.

And the U.S. has seized two oil tankers linked to Venezuela. One of them was apparently under Russian protection. We'll have the details in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:20:20]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

President Trump told "The New York Times" that the U.S. could have oversight of Venezuela for a long time. This comes as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on a measure that would limit his war powers in the south American country. Just yesterday, Congress was briefed on the operation to capture President Nicolas Maduro.

Republican Senator Eric Schmitt applauding what he called a successful mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ERIC SCHMITT (R-MO): I think it sends a very powerful message to folks around the world, our adversaries around the world, the capabilities of the U.S. military in support of this law enforcement operation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: But Democrats apparently left Wednesday's briefings unimpressed. They accused the Trump administration of having no plan for what comes next in Venezuela.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): This is an insane plan. They are talking about stealing the Venezuelan oil at gunpoint for a period of time, undefined, as leverage to micromanage the country.

SEN. PETER WELCH (D-VT): Everyone is in great admiration of the capacity of our military, but there is no answer about what comes next.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): This is fraught with peril.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): About what's next. Is Greenland next? Is Colombia or Mexico or Cuba next? We've got to get this discussion out of the SCIF and into the public before it's too late. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Meanwhile, the U.S. has captured a Russian-flagged oil tanker linked to Venezuela in the waters south of Iceland. Russia claimed that the tanker was under its protection, even sending naval assets to defend it. According to an official, the Bella 1 tanker had been initially spotted near Venezuela last month, but later reappeared as the Marinera with a Russian flag painted on its side.

Its capture getting bipartisan support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): I love it, I love it. Calling, calling (EXPLETIVE DELETED) on the Russians, you know, and the dirty Russians. Absolutely. Finally standing up and pushing back on Russia.

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): This morning, with the seizure of the tankers, there's been a lot of blowback on that. And I think that's misdirected because they're using -- obviously, they're using the oil to fund our enemies. I think that's pretty apparent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Meanwhile, Venezuela's interior minister says that the death toll from the U.S. attack has now risen to at least 100.

CNN's Nada Bashir covering all of this live from London.

Nada, good morning to you.

So that oil tanker that was seized was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024. What more can you share with us here?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We heard from the White House yesterday vowing to continue seizing oil tankers that are under sanctions. We heard yesterday from the U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi, who said that the U.S. executed a seizure warrant. In her words, quote, for a vessel which was responsible for transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.

She went on to say that the tanker was identified by the United States for, quote, its role in a sanctions evasion network responsible for supporting foreign terrorist organizations.

Now, what we know at this stage is that the tanker itself was seized on Wednesday, about 190 miles off the southern coast of Ireland. We've heard from the Russian transport ministry saying it lost contact with the crew on board the vessel at around 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time, when it is believed that it was boarded by U.S. forces and two individuals familiar with the operation have told CNN that U.S. Navy SEALs were part of those U.S. forces who boarded the vessel, as part of that seizure operation. Now, we also know and have had confirmation now, that the U.K. provided support for this operation. We've heard from the U.K. defense ministry saying that it helped with the seizure following a U.S. request for assistance. The U.K. defense minister himself, defense secretary, has also spoken, saying that it that it chose to take part and offer support in this operation with the United States as part of efforts to combat, quote, shadow shipping activity and crackdown on shipping evasion. Now we know the U.S. was bolstering its presence and repositioning U.S. military assets around U.K. bases, including aircraft and gunships, as well. In the days leading up to this seizure, execution, as it's been described.

What we've also heard now from the United States is that crew members on board the vessel did try to attempt to avoid being seized. Now, we are hearing, according to the U.S. attorney general, that they are now all under full investigation for criminal charges -- Rahel.

SOLOMON: Nada Bashir for us there in London -- Nada, thank you.

[05:25:00]

Straight ahead, more on our breaking news coverage of the shooting in Minneapolis, including the outrage on the streets and the strong reaction from local officials.

Plus, CNN obtains a firsthand account of how the incident unfolded. An eyewitness describing what she saw. Well show you the video she took right after the shooting, after the short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: There has been an outpouring of emotion and outrage in Minneapolis after a U.S. citizen was shot and killed by an ICE agent at the scene. A growing vigil for 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, who was shot in her vehicle during the encounter on Wednesday morning. Surveillance footage obtained by CNN shows the aftermath after good tried to drive away and crashed into a vehicle on the side of the road.

The Trump administration says that she tried to run over agents, but state and local officials are disputing claims that the shooting was in self-defense.