ESPN Host Slammed After Sharing His Hot Take About ICE Shooting Of Renee Good

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith sparked backlash after claiming on his program Straight Shooter with Stephen A. that the murder of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent was "justified."

The ICE agent who shot Good has been identified as Jonathan E. Ross, according to court records that closely align with the circumstances of a June 2025 incident in Bloomington, Minnesota, referenced by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Vice President JD Vance.

Ross, a Minneapolis resident, is a 10-year veteran of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations special response team. Federal authorities have declined to publicly name the agent involved, but The Minneapolis Star Tribune first reported Ross’s identity on Thursday.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed Good “weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them.” But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey pushed back against this narrative considering witnesses described seeing Good in the vehicle trying to flee officers when she was shot.

While Smith claimed he disagreed with the decision to kill Good "from a humanitarian perspective," he nonetheless said Ross was "completely justified" in doing so.

He said:

"I saw the video on numerous occasions. And, seeing what transpired, from a lawful perspective, as it pertains to a law enforcement official, don't expect him to be prosecuted. He was completely justified."

"From a humanitarian perspective, however, why did you have to do that? If you could move out the way, that means you could have shot the tires. That means you could've got her a few feet away after you shot the tires, and if you were unsuccessful in doing that, you could've got her down the road. You didn't have to do that."

"She wasn't driving down the road coming at you 90 miles an hour. She was parked in the middle of the street, and rather than get out the car, she wrongfully tried to drive off. And wrongfully disregarded law enforcement officials, which is exactly what ICE is. And as a result, lost her life because of it."

You can hear what he said in the video below.

Many were angered by Smith's remarks.

Smith tried to walk back his remarks later:

"I did not say he was justified—as in morally. As in ethically. As in his own humanity, because that woman should still be alive. A mother-of-three, 37 years of age. How could you do that? She wasn't pointing a gun at you. Why would you do that?"

"On one hand she had no business being in that position. She had no business driving off and as a result, from a legal perspective, he is going to be justified."

"But that doesn't make him morally, legally, humanly right. Because he is not. What is the problem?"

Meanwhile, six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned on Tuesday over the Justice Department’s push to investigate Becca Good, Good's widow.

Sources say Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division, instructed her unit not to open a civil rights investigation into whether Ross violated federal law, a role the division typically plays in officer-involved deaths.

Several prosecutors in both the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota left their positions amid this dispute, with some critics arguing the move sidelined experienced prosecutors and weakened the inquiry.