AI images of Minneapolis ICE agent spread confusion
Screenshots by NPR/Image by Courtney Theophin/NPR
In the hours after a fatal shooting of Renee Good, 37, in Minneapolis, an image of the ICE agent who took the shots began to circulate.
While the agent wore a mask in eyewitness videos taken of the event, he appeared to be unmasked in many of the social media posts. That image appeared to have been generated by xAI’s generative AI chatbot, Grok, in response to users on X asking the bot to “unmask” the agent.
Regardless, the AI-generated image began to circulate late Wednesday, along with a name — Steve Grove. The origin of that name was not immediately clear, but by Thursday morning, it was leading to an outpouring of anger towards at least two Steve Groves who are in no way linked to the shooting.
Statement from the Minnesota Star Tribune: We are currently monitoring a coordinated online disinformation campaign incorrectly identifying the ICE agent involved in yesterday’s shooting. To be clear, the ICE agent has no known affiliation with the Star Tribune. We encourage…
— The Minnesota Star Tribune (@StarTribune) January 8, 2026
One was the owner of a gun shop in Springfield, Mo., named Steven Grove. That Grove awoke to discover his Facebook page under attack. “I never go by ‘Steve,'” Steven Grove told the Springfield Daily Citizen. “And then, of course, I’m not in Minnesota. I don’t work for ICE, and I have, you know, 20 inches of hair on my head, but whatever.”
The second Steve Grove was the publisher of the Minnesota Star Tribune. In a statement, the paper said it was monitoring what it believed to be a “coordinated online disinformation campaign.”
“We encourage people looking for factual information reported and written by trained journalists, not bots, to follow and subscribe to the Minnesota Star Tribune,” the paper wrote.