Keith “Pooter” Porter Jr. was the kind of person who made everyone around him feel welcome. A 43-year-old Compton native and father of two, Porter spent his life doing what came naturally to him — taking care of people.
“Oh yeah, he was a good dude — really fun, outgoing, a jokester,” his father, Keith Porter Sr., said. “He liked to make everybody happy. He was a caretaker, a caregiver. He loved everybody.”
Those who knew Porter describe a man who filled rooms with laughter and never let a holiday or milestone pass without celebration. He loved his children fiercely. He was devoted to his wife. He showed up for the people in his life, and he showed up for strangers too.
Porter was a member of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, where he worked alongside co-founder Melina Abdullah and others to fight for social justice and equality in a city that often demands both. His activism was not abstract — it grew from the same instinct that defined the rest of his life: the belief that people deserve better.
“We want to recognize that one of the worst imaginable injustices has been committed,” Abdullah said at a vigil organized in Porter’s honor. “This is a time for grief. … We are not going to be quiet.”
On New Year’s Eve 2025, Porter was shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent at his Northridge apartment complex. He was 43 years old.
His father has been unequivocal in the weeks since.
“I definitely want justice. I want to see that guy brought to trial,” Porter Sr. said. “He needs to go to jail for that. I mean, he just murdered him.”
The family’s attorney, Jamal Tooson, has challenged the official account and questioned why the agent left a position of safety to confront Porter. “Instead of staying in his apartment for a trained law enforcement officer from LAPD to respond, he made the premeditated and calculated decision to grab a firearm,” Tooson said. Neighbors have told the family they did not hear anyone identify themselves as law enforcement before the shots were fired.
But the people who gathered at Porter’s vigil, who signed petitions in his name, who packed a Los Angeles Police Commission meeting to demand answers — they were not there because of how Keith Porter died. They were there because of how he lived.
He was a father. He was a caregiver. He was a man who loved to celebrate. His community will not let that be forgotten.
Sources
- “Following the New Years Eve death of Keith ‘Pooter’ Porter Jr.,” The Root
- “Houston father speaks out after son killed by off-duty ICE agent,” KHOU Houston
- “Family of man shot and killed by off-duty ICE agent seeks answers,” ABC 7 Los Angeles
- “Off-duty ICE agent who killed L.A. man on New Year’s Eve allegedly whipped sons, made racist remarks,” Los Angeles Times