Halperin Breaks Down ICE Shooting Footage: 'The Car Hits Him' Before the Shot

Political analyst Mark Halperin urged restraint and careful examination Wednesday as video footage circulated of a fatal Immigration and Customs Enforcement shooting in Minnesota — an incident quickly politicized by Democratic leaders before all facts were reviewed.

A federal ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis, prompting immediate condemnation from Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey. But during an appearance on “2WAY Tonight,” Halperin pushed back against the rush to judgment, walking viewers through the footage frame by frame to assess what officers were facing in real time.

Halperin emphasized the importance of slowing the video and evaluating the moment from the officer’s perspective, rather than through hindsight or political narrative.

“So this is after the officers have approached the vehicle, and they’ve asked her to get out of the vehicle. And she backs up and then she starts going forward. Now, you’ll see three officers, the two closest to the vehicle are the most germane. One of them has asked her to get out. She’s declined. The other officer is the officer who shoots. You see him obscured in the background,” Halperin said. “And I think the critical question for us here as we’ve watched these is, does he fire at her before he’s hit by the car? Even then, that wouldn’t mean it wouldn’t be this positive that it’s murder, but does he fire after he’s hit?”

Halperin stressed that real-world policing decisions unfold in fractions of a second and must be evaluated accordingly.

“Imagine from his point of view. They’ve asked her to get out. She hits the accelerator, and she hits him. What’s he supposed to do at that point? He’s holding a gun. What’s he supposed to do?” Halperin asked. “Play number two, please. This is a different angle, and it’s the angle that’s the clearest. You can see, again, it’s a little bit from a distance, but it’s the clearest angle that shows, without a doubt, that the car hits him.”

According to Halperin, that alternate angle removes much of the ambiguity fueling public outrage.

“Again, there’s no doubt. There’s some angles people have seen. You can’t tell that the car hits him. This angle makes it clear. The car does hit him. And it appears from the audio and the video that, again, he fires only after, only after he’s hit,” Halperin said. “Play number six, please. Car backs up. This is in slow motion. Car backs up, and then it goes forward. Very close there in terms of the timing, but it appears that he is hit by the car speeding towards him.”

The incident comes amid a sharp rise in violence targeting federal immigration officers — a trend repeatedly warned about by the Trump administration.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed that the officer involved in Wednesday’s shooting had already been the victim of a previous attack earlier this year.

“Over 100 of these vehicle rammings happen in just recent weeks, and this must stop. ICE alone is facing a 1,300 percent increase in assaults against them and an 8,000 percent increase in death threats against all of them,” Noem said. “In fact, the very same officer who was attacked today had previously been dragged by an anti-ICE rioter who had rammed him with a car and drug him back in June. He sustained injuries at that time as well. And let me remind you why we’re all here in this city today and why we’ve been here.”

Noem went further, calling on the Department of Justice to treat vehicle attacks against law enforcement as acts of domestic terrorism. She argued that using cars as weapons against officers constitutes coordinated political violence and warned that the administration intends to put a stop to it.

As emotions continue to run high, Halperin’s analysis highlights a key reality often ignored in activist-driven coverage: split-second decisions made under threat cannot be judged as if they were slow-motion policy debates. Before conclusions are drawn — or blame assigned — the facts deserve to be seen clearly.