WORCESTER — Dozens gathered outside Worcester City Hall for about an hour Thursday night to protest the killing of a woman in Minnesota by a federal ICE agent.
The clamorous group often chanted the name of the woman killed Wednesday in Minneapolis, Minnesota — Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother who was shot and killed by a federal agent. Protesters directed their anger at ICE, often yelling in unison to “(expletive) ICE” and waving signs.
Several people used a loudspeaker to address the crowd, some talking about peace, others yelling obscenities about ICE and police and others telling personal stories.
Henry Broadstone, a student at Clark University in Worcester, drew parallels between the killing in Minneapolis and an incident between onlookers and ICE agents as they apprehended a Brazilian mother of three on Eureka Street in Worcester in May.
“… when I saw the video in Minneapolis, I said, ‘that’s exactly what happened on Eureka Street; it’s the exact same thing.’ And so, if that means that when we respond as community members, we can get murdered, that’s ridiculous,” Broadstone told MassLive during Thursday night’s protest. “… it’s just, you know, an American place, an American town, it’s just a regular neighborhood, right? And at the same time, it’s the scene of a murder.”
Several hundred people also protested ICE at the Boston Common Thursday night in a march that led to Boston City Hall.
What happened in Minneapolis?
Footage of the Minneapolis incident shows two ICE agents approaching the driver side door of Good’s SUV, which was in the middle of a street. As the SUV backs up, a third agent can be seen standing in front of the vehicle. The vehicle then drives forward and the ICE agent in front pulls out a gun, shooting into the front of the vehicle before stepping to the side and shooting again.
The footage sparked outrage among Massachusetts Democratic elected officials, many of them claiming Good was murdered.
“The murder of a woman in Minnesota by ICE agents in broad daylight is horrific and unacceptable,” U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-7th District, said in a statement. “This harrowing tragedy should never have happened, and my heart breaks for the victim, their loved ones, and the entire Minnesota community.”
Trump administration officials, however, defended the agent, saying he was acting in self-defense.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Thursday the agent was “doing his job” and implied Good’s actions led to her death.
“I can believe that her death is a tragedy, while also recognizing that it’s a tragedy of her own making,” Vance said.
Federal officials similarly defended agents who shot two people in Portland, Oregon Thursday afternoon, according to The Oregonian.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents shot and wounded a man and a woman believed to be a married couple in a medical clinic parking lot near a medical center in Southeast Portland, authorities and witnesses told The Oregonian. Portland police said they didn’t know their immediate conditions as of Thursday night.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, said agents were trying to make a traffic stop and characterized the shooting as self-defense, The Oregonian reported.
In Worcester, the crowd started to disperse from Main Street around 7 p.m., with no obvious police presence throughout the peaceful demonstration.
Material from MassLive reporter Adam Bass was used in this article.
