Jamal Tooson is a Los Angeles trial attorney and Of Counsel at Lessem, Newstat & Tooson, LLP, where he represents plaintiffs in personal-injury and civil-rights matters. He is a legal analyst for ABC's Good Morning America and People magazine. Tooson represents the family of Keith Porter Jr. in disputing the federal government's account of Porter's fatal shooting by an off-duty ICE agent.
Case
An off-duty ICE agent, later identified in court filings as Brian Palacios, fatally shot Keith Porter Jr. in Northridge on New Year's Eve. DHS says Porter aimed a rifle and fired; his family says he was firing celebratory shots skyward.
Role at the time: attorney for the family of Keith Porter Jr.
Statement summary
Family attorney Jamal Tooson said witness accounts contradict DHS's version of an exchange of gunfire, arguing the official account, if true, would already have cleared the agent rather than leaving the case unresolved months later.
“If it actually happened the way the officer said it did, it would have been an open and shut case.”
Tooson directly denies the factual basis of DHS's self-defense account, citing witnesses who said they heard only three shots from a single weapon and did not hear the agent identify himself, and an autopsy showing Porter was shot three times, all of which he argues rule out an exchange of gunfire.
Role at the time: attorney for the family of Keith Porter Jr.
Statement summary
Family attorney Jamal Tooson disputed DHS's self-defense framing, arguing the agent chose to move toward the sound of gunfire rather than staying safely inside and calling police.
“He claims he heard gunshots were getting closer to his apartment, but rather than staying at a position of safety, he left his apartment and went downstairs to what would be a position of danger.”
Tooson does not deny that shots were fired near the agent's apartment, but he rejects DHS's framing of the agent as a defender forced to act; he argues the agent's own choice to leave a position of safety undercuts the claim that shooting Porter was a necessary defensive response.
Statement dates: January 13, 2026 to June 22, 2026
Statement dates: January 13, 2026 to June 22, 2026
