The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness has released a statement on the death of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old Presbyterian woman whose fatal shooting by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer last week in Minneapolis has sparked protests around the country. The statement mourns her death and affirms the right to “peaceful protest and lawful observation” without the threat of deadly government responses.

Remembering Renee Nicole Good

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
John 15: 12–13

Jesus teaches that there is no greater love than the willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for others, to lay down one’s life for someone else. It is to offer oneself unselfishly for the sake of others, especially the defenseless and the vulnerable.

On Wednesday, Jan. 7, Renee Nicole Good was shot while moving her car, attempting to follow the orders of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer. Her last words, captured on video, were, “I’m not mad at you.”

We lament and mourn the loss of Ms. Good, a widow of a veteran, a wife and a mother who put herself in harm’s way not out of any desire to do harm, but to observe and bear witness to the actions of ICE. We affirm the right to peaceful protest and lawful observation for all Americans, without the threat of repressive or deadly responses by government and law enforcement authorities. …

The statement can be read in full on the PC(USA) news website: A statement in memory of Renee Nicole Good.

Above photo by  Carly Hendrickson via Unsplash.