South Elgin rally protests fatal shooting of Renee Good by ICE officer in Minneapolis

A number of groups organized a roadside rally in South Elgin Saturday afternoon protesting the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis three days earlier.

A large crowd held signs and chanted to passing motorists on Rand Road in front of the Silver Glen Crossing shopping center while others waved and displayed banners from the pedestrian bridge at Silver Glen Road.

Heidi DeMarco of Geneva and Tracy McGrath of St. Charles, members of both Visibility Brigade-Kane and Indivisible Fox Valley Rising, were among those up on the bridge.

DeMarco said the nonviolent political groups and their gatherings are aimed at provoking people to look things up about current events.

McGrath added it was important for the groups to get their word out quickly and find people where they are.

“We’re trying to break through the social media polarization where you only see what you want to see,” she said.

The pair said the protest, which included members of other groups like We Can Lead Change-Fox Valley, was intended to carry a message for people on both sides of the political fence.

For those who identify with the Make America Great Again movement, they said the use of untrained and unqualified officers with the power of life and death over citizens should be a wake-up call.

“Your greatest fear of tyrannical government is here,” DeMarco said. “The whole reason you’ve been buying those guns is here. Fascism thrives on people who are afraid and joyless.”

And for those who’ve already disapproved of the government actions of the past year but stayed silent, the nature of Good’s death raises the urgency for change, McGrath said.

“We’re trying to get unengaged people off the couch,” she said. “It’s time to do something. It can be me tomorrow. And it can be you, readers.”

Tom Luppino of St. Charles also attended to wave a flag from the bridge. He said he learned of the event from Facebook and hadn’t been involved with such protests before last year.

Luppino said he’s particularly disturbed that everything he learned in school about checks and balances in the U.S. government doesn’t seem to be working out.

“We have to do something,” he added. “I can’t believe what’s going on here.”

DeMarco and McGrath said beyond the protesters’ stance on Good’s death, there’s now a battle for control of the narrative on an event that was recorded on video from multiple angles.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump and others in the administration have characterized the shooting as an act of self-defense and Good as an instigator who tried to use her vehicle as a weapon against the officer who opened fire.

Minnesota officials have rejected that narrative, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey who called the self-defense argument “garbage” after viewing the videos.

Those videos show an officer approach Good’s SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demand that she open the door and grab the handle. The vehicle begins to pull forward when a different ICE officer standing in front of it draws his gun and fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the Honda pilot moves toward him.

• Associated Press coverage in Minneapolis contributed to this report.