The ICE agent who shot and killed an unarmed US citizen — Renee Nicole Good (picture below) — in Minneapolis, Minnesota was identified as Jonathan Ross by the Star-Tribune, which was condemned for its journalism by Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security:
“The Star Tribune should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for their reckless behavior, and they should delete their story immediately,” she said.
The Star Tribune named Ross because he is a government employee involved in a high-profile federal investigation. Under Minnesota law, the names of state and local law enforcement officers who are involved in shootings are typically considered public information and released by agencies.
The state law mandating disclosure does not apply to federal agents, however, and Homeland Security officials had not said when or if they would release the agent’s name. They had, however, released several identifying details.
The Intercept also identified the ICE shooter as Jonathan Ross by doing some sleuthing on Facebook:
A photo on the Facebook page of a man identified in public records as Ross’s father shows a man carrying an assault weapon captioned “Jon Ross in Iraq.” The man pictured in the photo and others closely resembles images of the agent at the scene of Wednesday’s shooting.
Ross previously lived in Texas near Fort Bliss, a U.S. Army base on the outskirts of El Paso that spans parts of Texas and New Mexico. Public records for a property linked to Ross indicate he secured a loan through a program for veterans.
(Source: Star-Tribune, The Intercept )