The day an ICE agent killed Renee Good, bystander video immediately swept through the community. Different angles fueled different political narratives. During a design team meeting that day, I pitched a visual analysis to break down the videos and create a comprehensive timeline. I learned my colleague Jake Steinberg had begun mapping the relative location of each person. We decided the two ideas belonged together — life during this time was chaotic, and this felt like a chance to provide as much clarity as we could.

Star Tribune videographer Amanda Anderson synced all the clips together, using gunshots to match the video timelines. As a group, we outlined each step of the confrontation to write what we saw. We clearly stated what we could see and what we couldn’t. Our goal was to provide an authoritative source, putting the upsetting videos scattered across social media into context with each other.

I leaned on development skills for a quick-turn custom build that utilized scrollytelling to update the map and play the relevant clips of video at each new step. Minutes before we planned to publish, a first-person video from ICE agent Jonathon Ross’ phone was released online. We quickly pivoted, using his video in the timeline to add a greater level of detail and updating the maps and graphics with what we learned through his viewpoint.

This piece makes me proud to be a local journalist. I am proud of the collaborative work we did in such an accelerated timeline. When the finish line was moved suddenly after two days of nonstop work, I’m proud of us for adapting. The result was the most comprehensive look at the shooting to date.