Outrage, grief, determination bring more than 200 protesters, mourners out for Renee Good vigil

Tanner Ziebell knows what he saw and he thinks all Americans saw the same thing: Renee Good being shot in the face while simply trying to get out of the road where ICE agents had gathered this week in Minneapolis.

“I mean, they murdered her,” he said the morning before his group, Hate Free Outagamie, and a slate of other activist groups, was to hold a vigil for Good. “That was clear. There was nothing life threatening. This was not self defense. She was a legal observer. You know, that’s really all I have to say. It’s murder.”

Legal observers are trained volunteers who act as neutral third parties to monitor and document law enforcement conduct in order to protect the constitutional rights of citizens.

As it has been so many times since it came into existence over transphobic remarks by Outagamie County Commissioner Tim Hermes in 2023, Hate Free Outagamie was front and center for another protest – and vigil – on Friday evening at Houdini Plaza in Appleton.

The work of the politically non-aligned Hate Free Outagamie has been non-stop since the beginning of the second Trump administration, organizing around what they see as constant attacks on civil liberties, whether it be threats to free association, violations of the Fourth Amendment, unlawful detention, extrajudicial deportations to third countries and the use of force against peaceful protestors by masked ICE agents.

“I would say that we were not necessarily anticipating this level of organization, this level of crisis,” he said. “We did start originally as centered around queer issues and we still are. But we also see all of these facets of oppression, whether it be workers or people of color or queer people. We see it all as a very similar part of the same kind of system.”

Recent releases of frame-by-frame accounts of the Good shooting by various news outlets strongly suggest that the ICE officer who fired the shots did not fire the first shot until Good’s car had turned the vehicle to the right, leaving him clear of any danger. The shooting officer’s own released body cam video on Friday afternoon shows Good less than a minute before she was shot, smiling and telling the approaching officers, “It’s okay, dude, I’m not mad,” which would seem to suggest she did not understand the intent of the ICE agents nor the gravity of the situation and that she bore no ill intent toward them. 

But when they draw their guns, her wife tells her to drive and after shooting her three times, the agent was heard muttering, “Fucking bitch.”

Members of the administration, from President Trump to Vice President JD Vance to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem falsely declared Good to be a domestic terrorist and, against all evidence, said she was attempting to ram the agent with her car.

Outrage and grief

Outrage over that, along with grief and sadness, brought an estimated two hundred people out to Houdini Plaza for the vigil and protest on Friday. People held signs denouncing ICE or mourning the death of Good while cars honked in support. There was a candlelit moment of silence. Additionally, there were organized chants and calls-and-response.

Among the participants was a man who preferred to remain unidentified for whom grief and shock overwhelmed whatever outrage he might have been feeling. 

“I’m absolutely heartbroken,” he said, speaking softly. “This is an absolutely terrifying moment for the country that I love so much. I feel more exhausted every week and I think the only way we can handle this is by supporting each other directly, person to person, in our communities. We try so hard to stay strong but I am just feeling more emotional than I ever have so far.”

Maggie also seemed more heartbroken than outraged by what she witnessed in Minneapolis, though she admitted the anger is there, underneath.

“It’s just incredibly sad for our country,” she said. “We’re a country who welcomes people and gives people chances and loves people. That’s how we were founded. This is not what we stand for.

“No one deserves to be treated that way, but especially someone who’s trying to stand up for the rights of others.”

‘Beyond disturbing’

Keith, a man who signed up for the Coast Guard after 9-11, apologized for tearing up, saying disgust didn’t begin to cover what he was feeling.

“I’m just beyond angry,” he said. “It’s just so Orwellian. We all saw what happened. And what we hear from them is that she’s a terrorist. That is beyond disturbing.”

Keith said he thought the gaslighting was intentional, designed to wear people down.

“I mean, I’ve seen with my own family who are supporters,” he said. “They’re so out of touch with reality, with what’s going on around them. They just believe what they’re gold instead of what they see.”

While he said he was exhausted by it all, he is holding on to hope, seeing no other alternative.

“I mean, you’ve got to keep fighting. Otherwise, what are we going to do? I was in the military to fight this sort of thing.”

A woman named Spencer wasn’t ready to call what she saw in Minneapolis a new low because she saw it all as inevitable, saying we’ve been on the cusp for a while.

“It’s extremely disheartening that we can forget that we’re neighbors, no matter our color, our sexuality or gender,” she said. “And that coming together for something like this tonight is a way of remembering that we need to be here for each other.”

Spencer called the administration’s response “reprehensible,” wondering when what she termed the administration’s reign of terror was going to end.

“But wanting to do it peacefully means there are steps to it,” she said. “It just feels like there’s always another step and everybody’s waiting for somebody else to do something. And there’s the fear that if I’m the one that does that, will I become the next Renee?”

‘There will be a reckoning’

Cheryl, a woman who appeared to be in her sixties, was attending her first-ever rally. She said rather than being exhausted by everything happening in America, she felt emboldened and was taking positive energy from seeing how many others shared her distress.

“I thought it was going to be cold but my heart is warm just seeing so many people here,” she said. “I have this feeling there will be a reckoning. I guess that’s hope, if you want to call it that. I’m heartened to see the clergy stand up and push back.”

She said watching South Park, the brazenly satirical animated series that has been mercilessly lampooning the administration in its latest season, keeps her going.

Nate, who has a degree in criminal justice, said what he witnessed in Minneapolis was murder.

“That officer was clearly not in harm’s way when he pulled the trigger,” he said. “It was clear that his intent was to murder her, considering he shot her at point blank range three times.”

Meeting the moment

There will be another rally on Sunday from 11 a.m.  to 1, also at Houdini Plaza.

Ziebell said it’s obviously easier to not care than to care, to look away rather than engage. But he said he has seen no signs of exhaustion among HFO’s volunteers, whose numbers have tripled since the beginning of 2025.

“There have been no expressions of wanting to just throw in the towel,” he said. “However, that's a battle organizers fight and, I mean, just people in general living in this country. To have to fight every single day. It's not easy to live here, period, and it's definitely not easy to try to resist these things. 

“So, morale is still very high, but I would say that both things can be true at the same time – that it is very, very heavy to watch all this stuff and try our best to build something powerful. I’d say morale has actually grown given the necessity to meet the moment that we're in.”

Outrage, grief, determination bring more than 200 protesters, mourners out for Renee Good vigil © 2026 by Kelly Fenton is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0