Northern Ireland Christian work of woman fatally shot by ICE | UK News

Becca Hainsworth knew Renee Nicole Good long before her name and face went around the world after her fatal shooting by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis.

“She was extremely caring, a soft and beautiful spirit,” said her friend since they were teenagers.

Hainsworth, who now lives in Belfast, is one of a number of people based in Northern Ireland who remember Good from the time she spent there on Christian youth missions 20 years ago.

Paul Bowman, a youth worker who hosted Good for two summers, said she was a “big part” of his family during her time in Northern Ireland.

The 37-year-old died on Wednesday after being shot in her car, leading to people taking to the streets of Minneapolis in protest and a divide emerging over the circumstances of what led to the mother-of-three’s fatal shooting.

Officials have offered differing accounts of the incident, with the Trump administration claiming the ICE agent was acting in self defence, while local officials say Good posed no danger.

For Hainsworth, who travelled with her to Northern Ireland in 2005 and 2006, she was “like an older sister to me”.

“When I was getting homesick, she’d sing to me. She had a voice of an angel. She’d bring me cups of tea.

“She had a nurturing, beautiful soul.”

The pair spent time in counties Down and Londonderry, in the summer outreach teams at Ballysally Presbyterian Church and First Saintfield Presbyterian Church.

There they were involved in working in child and youth outreach programmes and summer Bible study groups.

Hainsworth remembers it as “wholesome and beautiful work”.

When she heard the news of Good’s death, she said what started as shock quickly turned into an ache.

“To think of her children, family and partner who had to witness this, it’s just soul-crushing’.

Paul Bowman, from Saintfield, said his “heart is heavy” following her death.

“It’s just really surreal watching these horrific events and knowing that it is someone you shared life with. Someone who people have friendships with and care about”.

He said his last memories of Good were of a quiet, smiling, artistic teenager who had a “passion for community”.

“This is a girl who I played music with, she played with my kids. She was very much a big part of my family during her time in Northern Ireland,” he said.

In 2006, Good extended her mission in Northern Ireland from two weeks to eight.

During that time, Bowman took her for a scenic drive around Torr Head and the Antrim Coast.

“It was a good day, she talked about her hopes and plans, a whole life lay ahead of her. A life now so tragically and horrifically snatched away,” he said.

“When I think of her and those experiences she had in her formative years, and yes it was a while ago and things and people change, but there are principles and values that are instilled in someone’s life that endure.”

Speaking on Radio Ulster’s Talkback programme, Bowman said he was in “shock and disbelief” at the reports of her killing.

“The person portrayed in the media is not the person we knew. It’s important we don’t lose sight that this was a human life.”

He said there needed to be “calmness” and space for people to grieve and process what had happened.

Rev James Hyndman, who was the minister at First Saintfield during Good’s internship, described her death as “an absolute tragedy”.

“Renee Ganger, as she was then, was gentle-natured and warm. A loving type of person,” he said, adding that she chose to stay in Northern Ireland for a while after her internship ended.

“She was a lovely, lovely girl.”

A prize-winning poet and hobby guitarist, her death has sparked protests across the US.

A US citizen, Good was originally from Colorado Springs.

In what appears to be her Instagram account, which has now been made private, she described herself as a “poet and writer and wife and mom”, who was “experiencing Minneapolis”.

She had two children, who are now teenagers, with her first husband, and hosted a podcast with her second husband, Tim Macklin, who died in 2023. They had a son together, who is now six years old, Macklin’s father told the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Her third marriage was to Rebecca Good, with whom she moved to Minneapolis just last year, from Kansas City, a neighbour told the Washington Post.