Billionaire investor Bill Ackman donated $10,000 to a GoFundMe supporting the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Minneapolis mother Renee Nicole Good, confirming the contribution after hours of online speculation.
The donation appeared on a GoFundMe page set up for Jonathan Ross, whom federal officials identified as the ICE agent who fired what they described as defensive shots during a confrontation with Good earlier this week, The New York Post reported.
The contribution, listed under the name William Ackman, was the largest single donation on the page.
Ackman, 59, later acknowledged the donation in a post on X.
“I am big believer in our legal principal that one is innocent until proven guilty,” Ackman wrote. “To that end, I supported the @gofundme for Jonathan Ross and intended to similarly support the GoFundMe for Renee Good’s family. Her GoFundMe was closed by the time I attempted to provide support.”
The GoFundMe created to support Good’s widowed wife and her children was closed by its organizer after surpassing $1.5 million in donations.
“The whole situation is a tragedy,” Ackman wrote. “An officer doing his best to do his job, and a protester who likely did not intend to kill the officer but whose actions in a split second led to her death. Our country is stronger if we work together to resolve the complex issues that are tearing us apart.”
Federal officials have alleged that Good attempted to weaponize her vehicle against ICE agents during an operation in Minneapolis and clipped Ross with the car.
Authorities said Ross, who was previously injured in a separate vehicle ramming attack while on duty, fired one shot through the windshield and two additional shots through the open driver’s side window.
Video released by federal authorities shows the moments leading up to the shooting.
The GoFundMe for Ross, which states the funds are intended to cover potential legal expenses, had raised more than $270,000 as of Sunday, an increase that followed Ackman’s public endorsement of the fundraiser.
The organizer of Ross’ GoFundMe, who does not appear to personally know the agent, criticized the fundraiser created for Good, calling it “media bs about a domestic terrorist.”
“I feel that the officer that was 1000 percent justified in the shooting deserves to have a GoFundMe,” the organizer wrote.
In an update posted Sunday, the organizer said all donations would be refunded if they do not hear back from Ross’ family by March 9.
Ackman is the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management and has an estimated net worth of $9.3 billion.
The $10,000 donation represents roughly 0.0001075 percent of his total wealth.
Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and his wife appeared on Monday at the scene where a woman was shot and killed by an ICE agent last week after striking him with her vehicle.
“At the crime scene investigation where Renee Good was shot…we believe we saw Gov. Walz’s wife with him as well,” said Fox News reporter Matt Finn during a segment on “The Faulkner Focus” with host Harris Faulkner.
Many on social media slammed Walz for showing up at the scene.
“No, that is what pandering looks like. If he had not put in place policies that prevented the cops from doing crowd control, this would never have happened,” one user wrote.
“The guy who allowed billions of taxpayer dollars to be stolen by Somalians and sent to Al-Shabab terrorists is not ‘true leadership,’” another wrote.
“Walz is literally going to be investigated for fraud, and you want to grandstand leadership. His political career is finished; this is the pinnacle,” a third user wrote.
The wife of Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman who was shot and killed by an ICE agent last week after striking him with her vehicle, is speaking out. In a statement to Minnesota Public Radio, Becca Good wrote that Renee “was made of sunshine.”