Fake AI Images Falsely ‘Unmask’ ICE Officer Who Killed Renee Good, Spreading Disinformation Online

Within hours after a masked federal agent fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, social media users have been circulating AI-modified images that falsely claim to “unmask” the officer and expose their true identity. The shooter was later confirmed by Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin to be an officer with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The shooting took place on a Wednesday morning in a suburb south of downtown Minneapolis. Footage of the incident shared on social media captures two masked federal agents approaching an SUV stopped in the middle of a public road. One officer appears to order Good, the SUV’s driver, to exit the vehicle before reaching for the door handle. In response, Good first reverses the car, then pulls forward and turns the wheel. A third masked agent standing near the front of the SUV draws a weapon and fires at the vehicle, killing Good.

None of the eyewitness and incident videos shared online immediately after the shooting show any of the masked ICE agents without their face coverings. Even so, multiple images claiming to show the shooter’s unmasked face began spreading across the internet just hours after Good’s death. These images appear to be direct screenshots pulled from the original footage, but they have actually been edited with artificial intelligence tools to generate a fabricated face for the officer.

Reporters from WIRED reviewed dozens of these altered images shared across every major mainstream social platform, including X, Facebook, Threads, Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok. One viral X post from Claude Taylor, founder of the anti-Trump political group Mad Dog PAC, featured a fake unmasked image of the officer with the caption: “We need his name.” That post alone has been viewed more than 1.2 million times, and Taylor did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

On Threads, a user operating under the handle “Influencer_Queeen” shared one of the AI-altered images alongside the message: “Let's get his address. But only focus on HIM. Not his kids.” The post has accumulated nearly 3,500 likes to date.

Hany Farid, a UC Berkeley professor who has spent years researching AI’s capabilities and limitations for facial image enhancement, told WIRED that AI-powered image tools have a well-documented tendency to “hallucinate” false facial details. “The end result may look visually clear, but it has no basis in reality when it comes to accurate biometric identification,” Farid explained. “In this situation, where half of the face is obscured by a mask, AI or any other existing technique cannot, in my opinion, accurately reconstruct the person’s true facial identity.”

Many people sharing the fake images have also made unsubstantiated claims that they have confirmed the agent’s real identity, sharing the names of actual people and, in dozens of cases, linking directly to those individuals’ personal social media accounts. WIRED has confirmed that at least two of the most widely circulated names have no apparent connection to ICE or any employee involved in the shooting. While most posts sharing these fake AI images have limited reach, several have gained significant viral traction.

One high-profile individual falsely named as the shooter online is Steve Grove, CEO and publisher of the Minnesota Star Tribune, who previously served in Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s administration. “We are currently monitoring a coordinated online disinformation campaign incorrectly identifying the ICE agent involved in yesterday’s shooting,” Chris Iles, vice president of communications at the Minnesota Star Tribune, told WIRED. “To be clear, the ICE agent has no known affiliation with the Minnesota Star Tribune and is certainly not our publisher and CEO, Steve Grove.”

This is not the first time AI-generated disinformation has sown confusion and harm in the wake of a high-profile shooting. A nearly identical incident unfolded in September after Charlie Kirk was killed: an AI-altered image of the shooter, generated from grainy footage released by law enforcement, was shared widely across social media. That fake AI image bore no resemblance to the man who was ultimately captured and charged with Kirk’s murder.