Federal records reviewed by The Associated Press say the ICE officer who shot and killed a driver in Minneapolis on Wednesday is a U.S. military and law enforcement veteran with nearly two decades of experience, including stints with the Border Patrol and ICE.
AP reported that the officer, Jonathan Ross, has served as a deportation officer with ICE since 2015. Federal officials had not named Ross at the time of the Wednesday incident, but Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the agent who shot Good had been dragged by a vehicle last June, and a department spokesperson confirmed Noem was referring to the Bloomington, Minnesota, case that identified the injured officer as Ross.
The Wednesday shooting is under federal review. AP said the FBI is investigating the deadly use of force, and that video has raised questions about whether the shooting was in self-defense. Some protesters have demanded criminal charges for Ross, and Minnesota authorities also want to investigate.
Ross, 43, attempted to be reached by phone numbers and email addresses associated with him, but AP reported the effort was not immediately successful. The report described his background as spanning combat service, Border Patrol intelligence work, and ICE fugitive operations.
In courtroom testimony last month, Ross told the court that he deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005 with the Indiana National Guard. He said he served as a machine-gunner on a gun truck as part of a combat patrol team, and AP reported he then returned from Iraq in 2005, went to college, and joined the Border Patrol in 2007 near El Paso, Texas.
AP said Ross testified that he worked with the Border Patrol until 2015 as a field intelligence agent gathering and analyzing information on cartels and drug and human smuggling. He also testified that he has served as an ICE deportation officer based in Minnesota since joining ICE in 2015, and that he is assigned to fugitive operations seeking to arrest “higher value targets” in the ICE region that includes Minneapolis.
Ross told the court, “So I develop the targets, create a target package, surveillance, and then develop a plan to execute the arrest warrant.” AP also reported that he said he was a team leader with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, and that he described roles including firearms instructor and active shooter instructor, as well as being a field intelligence officer and a member of the SWAT team. Ross testified that he attended the Border Patrol’s academy in New Mexico, where he learned to speak Spanish.
AP tied Noem’s remarks to Ross’s injury last June. Court records described June 17 as the day agents went to arrest a man in the U.S. illegally in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington. AP reported the records said agents had gathered outside the home of Roberto Munoz-Guatemala, who left in his car.
According to AP’s account of the records, FBI agents activated emergency sirens and lights instructing him to pull over but he did not. AP reported that Ross pulled his vehicle diagonally in front of Munoz-Guatemala’s car to force him to stop, and that Ross and an FBI agent identified themselves as police and pointed guns at the driver, who raised his hands.
AP said Ross then ordered Munoz-Guatemala to put the vehicle in park and to lower his window all the way down, warning he would break it if he did not. The report said Ross used a “spring-loaded window punch” to break the rear driver’s side window and reached inside to unlock the driver’s door. AP reported that Munoz-Guatemala then drove off while Ross’ arm was caught in the vehicle and accelerated, dragging Ross down the street, and that Ross fired his Taser, striking Munoz-Guatemala with prongs in the head, face and shoulder.
AP reported prosecutors said Munoz-Guatemala was not incapacitated and kept driving, taking Ross about the length of a football field in 12 seconds. The report said Ross was knocked free only after the driver drove onto a curb for a second time and back to the street. AP added that Ross received dozens of stitches after an FBI agent applied a tourniquet, and that prosecutors said he suffered multiple large cuts and abrasions to his knee, elbow and face.
Ross testified in the courtroom that it was “pretty excruciating pain.” AP reported that Munoz-Guatemala was bleeding from his injuries and that a woman called 911, saying he was assaulted and did not know whether the person trying to stop him was an officer. AP said Munoz-Guatemala was arrested and charged with assault on a federal officer with a dangerous or deadly weapon, and that a jury found him guilty last month.
AP reported that the jury found Munoz-Guatemala “should reasonably have known that Jonathan Ross was a law enforcement officer and not a private citizen attempting to assault him.”
Federal officials defended Ross publicly without identifying him. AP reported that Vice President JD Vance praised the officer’s service to the country without naming him, saying the ICE officer “deserves a debt of gratitude,” and that Vance said the officer “been assaulted” and had “been injured because of it.”
AP said DHS assistant Tricia McLaughlin declined to confirm the agent’s identity, saying doing so would be dangerous for the safety of him and his family. The report said McLaughlin noted Ross had been selected for ICE’s special response team, which includes a 30-hour tryout and additional training on specialized skills such as breaching techniques, perimeter control, hostage rescue and firearms. McLaughlin said, “He acted according to his training,” according to AP.