Weeks after a Los Angeles man was shot and killed on New Year’s Eve by an off-duty immigration and customs enforcement agent, a court filing claims to have revealed the officer’s identity.
Per court documents, Brian Palacios shot Keith Porter Jr. late on Dec. 31 at a Northridge apartment complex. Palacios’ name was identified due to a sworn declaration submitted by attorney Michelle Diaz in a custody dispute between the officer’s girlfriend and her ex-husband. The document suggests him as the officer involved in the shooting “based on information and belief” due to records and testimony identifying him as an ICE agent who is also a resident at the complex Porter was shot outside of.
The document also alleges that Palacios made racist and homophobic remarks, once allegedly carried a gun at a youth soccer game and whipped his sons with a belt, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Porter, a 43-year-old native of Compton, California and a father of two, was partaking in New Year’s celebrations of firing a gun into the air, which is a felony. Still, Porter’s family contends that the officer who shot and killed him overreacted and should have followed proper procedure by alerting the LAPD first.
Federal officials have defended the ICE agent, saying he was responding to an “active shooter.”
While protests have extended across the country following the ICE-involved shooting death of 37-year-old Minnesota native Renee Good, attention toward Porter’s story has differed because the incident that led to his tragic death was not captured on video. Security footage from the apartment complex did not capture the shooting. Activists and residents of the apartment complex packed a Los Angeles Police Commission meeting last week, many demanding the agent’s name.
“Should this individual be confirmed as the person responsible for Keith’s death, based on his deeply disturbing past allegations it is unimaginable that any human being with a conscience on this earth could regard him as a hero,” Jamal Tooson, an attorney for Porter’s family, said in a statement.
The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office declined to confirm or deny Palacios’ identity regarding the shooting and said the incident was under the investigative purview of the Justice System Integrity Division.
Diaz’s court filing seeks to temporarily bar Palacios’ girlfriend from seeing her daughter from her first marriage, due to the potential danger posed by Palacios’ alleged involvement in the shooting death of Porter.
“Palacios is presently prohibited by Court Order from being in the presence of the parties’ minor children because of his abusive conduct,” read the filing from Diaz, who represents the ex-husband of Palacios’ girlfriend. “There is a very valid concern that the stress of having shot and killed another man on 12/31/2025, and the ongoing aftermath, will materially and substantially impair Mother’s mental health, and impact her ability to provide a safe and stable parenting schedule for their youngest child.”
