An Off-Duty ICE Agent Killed A Black Man In Los Angeles

On Dec. 31, 2025, Keith Porter Jr. was outside his Northridge, California, apartment, where he was reportedly firing a rifle in the air to celebrate the new year. An off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer decided to treat Porter as an “active shooter” threat. Instead of calling the actual police, who are trained to handle this type of interaction, the off-duty agent, seemingly emboldened by his impunity and federal protections, decided to confront Porter Jr. Shots rang out, and the ICE officer claimed that he was forced to defend himself, and shot Porter Jr., who he later claimed refused to disarm himself.

Keith Porter Jr., 43, a father of two, went from celebrating the end of a difficult 2025 to never making it to see 2026. In typical DHS and ICE fashion, the agent’s name had not been released, and the Los Angeles Police Department had not even interviewed him about the incident. Multiple agencies are allegedly investigating the shooting, and the Porter family is left with the tragic death of a beloved son and father, all because a deputized authority of whiteness decided to confront a Black man when it wasn’t his job or his duty to do so.

Porter Jr. was breaking the law. Firing a gun into the air can come with felony charges in California, and it’s dangerous. Bullets fired into the air return to the ground with possible deadly results. The laws around this kind of “celebratory gunfire” were enacted to prevent just this kind of thing. So this isn’t trying to act like Porter Jr. wasn’t committing a crime. He was. He was committing a crime that, by all accounts, other people in the same apartment complex were committing, but somehow, Keith Porter Jr. is the only one who ended up dead behind it.

Black people are the most policed, beaten, and distrusted people in American history, so sometimes we do things because of this. I’m not justifying it, but it’s difficult knowing that unemployment is at an all-time high, and if it’s not the police or the poor house, Black folks suffer disproportionately from heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and other chronic conditions. And we survive this, if we’re lucky, all the while knowing that the world hates your skin. And so sometimes we break a fire hydrant to let the neighborhood kids enjoy the water on a hot summer day. Or we hold up traffic while we dance in the middle of the street. Sometimes we make patches of grass in untraditional spaces into cookout spots. Because we still find reasons to smile, still find little victories to celebrate, still believe that the end of the year could bring with it all the hope and wonderment that a new year brings.

And because America doesn’t believe in our humanity, and doesn’t believe that we have a right to bear arms or be happy or shoot a gun into the blackness of the night sky just like everyone else, and this ICE agent felt compelled to confront and attempt to exert authority over Keith Porter Jr. because unfiltered Blackness is lethal to those who can’t stomach it.

Keith Porter Jr. was minding his Black-ass business before the unidentified ICE henchman dressed in plain clothes came out of his apartment to insert himself into a painting that didn’t include the color white. And it doesn’t matter if the officer is actually a white man; he’s a patrolman for white supremacy. And the fact that I can’t use the officer’s name because it hasn’t been released is proof.

Neighbors and Keith Porter Jr.’s family dispute the events of that night. They claim that the unnamed officer never identified himself. They also don’t believe that deadly force was necessary that night.

From the LA Times:

Porter’s loved ones and advocates said they believe he was ringing in the new year by firing a gun into the air — an illegal and dangerous L.A. practice that city officials discourage because the falling bullets can hit bystanders. Firing a gun into the air in the city can bring felony charges, but Jamal Tooson, an attorney for Porter’s family, said at a news conference earlier this week that the ICE agent overreacted.

“What should have been an arrest and possible citation has turned into a death sentence and potentially cold-blooded murder from an ICE agent who was not equipped to handle the situation,” Tooson said.

Tooson claimed several people at the apartment complex were firing guns in the air and “only one was murdered.” The shooting happened around 10:40 p.m., according to the LAPD, long before fireworks and gunshots mark midnight around the city on New Year’s Eve.

Since his death, activists and community leaders have held candlelight vigils and are demanding an independent investigation into the shooting. That probably won’t happen, as asking the federal authorities to look into a federal shooting is akin to seeing if Scooby-Doo is willing to help find out who ate all the Scooby snacks.

The larger problem is this: An immigration agent with a deportation-focused mandate exercised lethal force in a civilian setting. Critics have been warning that once ICE adopts the tools of the police without being subject to the same community oversight and accountability, this was bound to happen.

ICE agents are not police officers.

They are not trained in de-escalation. They are not bound to a community they have been sworn to protect and serve. They don’t risk losing their jobs and pensions. At the very least, they are racism’s service arm that harasses and imprisons brown people for living. And they do so with impunity and the full force of an administration that doesn’t value Black and brown life. They wear masks over their faces and tactical gear more fit for overseas operations. They patrol areas in unmarked, tinted-window vehicles and bark orders as if their words are the law.

And I can’t even curse the name of the man who killed Keith Porter Jr. on New Year’s Eve because I don’t know it. No one outside of law enforcement does because even during off-duty hours, he’s protected. And it must be nice to know that your life is so valuable that the administration is worried more about an ICE henchman’s protection from possible harassment than they are about the fact that he just killed a man.

Keith Porter Jr. was, by all reports, firing a rifle into the air that night. He was armed, and his actions may have been dangerous, but it should not have led to this. This wasn’t a deadly confrontation. This was a meddling ICE agent wanting to flex his power — a power that is rooted in white supremacy.

What happened to Keith Porter Jr. is the same thing that happened to Renee Nicole Good. An ICE officer was offended that someone didn’t immediately do what he said, so he killed them.

Period.

A GoFundMe has been set up to support Keith Porter Jr.’s daughters in the aftermath of his death.

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