Image purporting to show car aimed at ICE agent is AI-generated
- Published on January 13, 2026 at 19:50
- 3 min read
- By Marisha GOLDHAMER, AFP USA
As US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump administration officials defend the immigration agent who fatally shot a woman in Minnesota, an image spreading online purports to support their claims that the agent acted in self-defense as he was rammed with a car. But the image is AI-generated, with several visual inconsistencies compared with verified footage of the scene.
A January 9, 2025 post on X from The Daily Letter, a website published by a self-described "independent journalist" whom AFP has previously fact-checked, appears to show an aerial view of the deadly confrontation between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
The image, shared alongside a list of rules for police facing moving vehicles, spread widely across X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn.
Federal officials have steadfastly defended the actions of the ICE officer who shot Good after she partially blocked a road with her car in an apparent effort to impede agents in Minneapolis.
Thousands of people have demonstrated in cities across the country as Democratic officials demand local agencies be included in the FBI's investigation of the incident.
Experts say political allegiance is heavily guiding people's perception of what happened.
The Trump administration has insisted that cell phone footage apparently taken by the shooting officer gave weight to claims of self-defense -- even though the clip does not clearly show the moment the car moved away, or him opening fire.
But visual analysis from the New York Times, based on bystander footage from three angles, shows the vehicle was turning away from the officer as the shots were fired.
The aerial image circulating on social media, meanwhile, is fake; no verified footage from that vantage point has been published.
Parody account
A watermark on the image traced its origin to the X account @ScummyMummy511, a self-described "parody account" that says it is run by a "Trump loyalist" who engages in "trolling."
The account first shared the image January 7 with a caption that misquotes Minnesota statute 609.066, which details guidance for officers on the use of deadly force (archived here).
In a follow-up post few minutes later, the account clarified that its post was an "AI generated image of the scene."
After Snopes and Lead Stories debunked the image, the X account again posted: "Ok so for the last time, YES the image is Ai."
Additionally, the image does not match verified footage from the scene.
In the AI image, the passenger-side door of Good's red Honda is open. This was not the case at the moment Good tried to drive away. In reality, the other car in the frame had its door open.
A black-clad officer pointing a gun also appears on the right side of the car in the AI image, but verified footage shows a bystander in a plaid flannel was on that side of the car -- not an officer.
The shooting took place near 34th Street East and Portland Avenue in Minneapolis. Google Street View images from 2022 (archived here) and eyewitness footage of the incident show the road does not contain the faded yellow lines seen in the AI image.
Finally, the AI image appears to have distorted the left leg of a third officer standing farthest from the red car, and it depicts the individual in what looks like a helmet, rather than the beanie sported by the officer in authentic footage.
AFP has debunked other misinformation about the shooting in Minnesota here.
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