By Helen Coster and Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Lawyers for the family of a California man shot dead by an off-duty U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent outside his apartment on New Year’s Eve urged the state’s attorney general on Tuesday to open an independent investigation of the killing.
Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump told reporters that relatives of Keith Porter Jr., the 43-year-old father of two who was gunned down on January 31, lacked faith in the Los Angeles Police Department to conduct a “fair and transparent investigation” of the shooting.
Details of Porter’s killing have remained sketchy. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, Porter was a suspected “active shooter” killed in an exchange of gunfire with the off-duty immigration agent who confronted him.
The officer, whose identity DHS has not made public, lived at the same apartment complex as Porter and was “protecting his community,” agency spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.
Reuters could not independently verify the account given by DHS, and the Los Angeles Police Department has released few details of the incident.
Jamal Tooson, another lawyer for Porter’s loved ones, suggested the LAPD was dragging its feet in its investigation.
“It has been over a month since Keith Porter’s death, and we still haven’t gotten meaningful answers,” Tooson said at the news conference.
He and Crump called for California Attorney General Rob Bonta to initiate an independent inquiry of Porter’s death, drawing parallels to last month’s fatal shootings of two other U.S. citizens – Renee Good and Alex Pretti – by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.
In response to a request from Reuters for comment, Bonta’s office issued a statement declining to “confirm or deny any potential or ongoing investigation.”
While Porter’s killing had nothing to do with the deportation crackdown ordered by President Donald Trump in Minneapolis, Tooson said the three killings taken together showed that federal immigration officers are “acting with immunity and a license to kill.”
RINGING IN NEW YEAR WITH GUNFIRE?
The Los Angeles Times, citing accounts of “friends and advocates,” has reported that Porter was firing a gun into the air to celebrate the new year – an illegal but not uncommon practice authorities strongly discourage because of the danger it poses to bystanders.
The group Black Lives Matter presented a similar narrative in a press release last month, saying Porter’s celebratory gunfire prompted the ICE-employed neighbor to take matters into his own hands. According to the BLM account, the off-duty agent ducked inside his own apartment, “put on his tactical gear, grabbed his ICE-issued firearm” and stepped back outside to shoot Porter dead.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Tooson said there were “multiple people” who were outside shooting at the time, but after canvassing the neighborhood himself he had yet to find “one witness” who recalled seeing Porter firing a gun.
In previous comments, Tooson has not disputed that Porter was in possession of a rifle but said he did not “believe there was any exchange of gunfire” between Porter and the agent, the Times reported.
Tooson said an autopsy found Porter was shot three times, consistent with an audio recording of the incident in which he said three gunshots can be heard. The recording has been turned over to investigators, he said.
In an email on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said LAPD was investigating the shooting, and that the DA’s Justice System Integrity Division would review the case as a matter of routine, but declined further comment.
(Reporting by Helen Coster. Additional reporting by Tom Hals. Editing by Donna Bryson and Stephen Coates)
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