Both Friday editions of ABC’s World News Tonight and CBS Evening News highlighted a Minnesota family that got caught in the chaos that ensued on Wednesday after an ICE officer shot a Venezuelan illegal immigrant in the leg after he fled a traffic stop. However, both shows omitted the detail that the man fled only to eventually join in with two other men—one of whom had a snow shovel—and attack the pursuing agent.
ABC reporter Matt Rivers was highlighting the case of the Jackson family, who were returning home from their oldest son’s basketball game when he declared, “On Wednesday, Destiny Jackson had her husband and six kids in the car, including a 6-month-old, when she got caught in chaotic protests after ICE shot a Venezuelan man during a traffic stop.”
Jackson recalled the scene, “And then, like, one of them, or, yeah, like, one or two of them, stopped at my car and was just like, ‘Get the F out of here,’ and I'm like, ‘We're trying, but—’ In that instance, I’m like, ‘Don't you put your foot on that gas,’ because I'd be damned if they try to shoot us like Renee, by saying we hit them with our car… Immediately, once they got behind our car, they rolled tear gas under it.”
Later, Jackson recalled having to give her 6-month-old “mouth to mouth, and people are pouring milk all over my other kids.”
Rivers concluded the Jackson family’s story by adding, “Thankfully, everyone now okay. Homeland Security says they've made more than 2,500 arrests since Operation Metro Surge began in December.”
Over on CBS, reporter Matt Gutman was marginally better when it came to the Jacksons’ story but still omitted relevant shovel details, “The latest skirmishes come after a Venezuelan migrant was shot in the leg by a federal agent during an arrest Wednesday night, prompting hours of clashes. During the chaos, Shawn and Destiny Jackson and their six children can be seen fleeing their vehicle after they say ICE agents dispersed tear gas near their car.”
After a conversation with the family, Gutman at least made it known that the Jacksons were not targeted, “The family says that three of the six children had to be hospitalized. They’re now all at home recovering. DHS said in a statement that it never targeted the family or its innocent children, and if anything can quell the tension here, it might be this brutal cold snap that you are seeing, Tony, descend on the Midwest here.”
What makes Rivers’ and Gutmans’ omission of possible shovel weapons even harder to justify is that both World News Tonight and Evening News managed to bring it up on their Thursday shows. The Jackson family got caught up in the middle of a circumstance beyond their control that was created by a crowd that either did not have or did not wish to have all the relevant facts, and ABC and CBS are helping fuel that ignorance.
Here is a transcript for the January 16 shows:
ABC World News Tonight
1/16/2025
6:35 PM ET
MATT RIVERS: On Wednesday, Destiny Jackson had her husband and six kids in the car, including a 6-month-old, when she got caught in chaotic protests after ICE shot a Venezuelan man during a traffic stop.
DESTINY JACKSON: And then, like, one of them, or, yeah, like, one or two of them, stopped at my car and was just like, "Get the F out of here," and I'm like, "We're trying, but—” In that instance, I’m like, “Don't you put your foot on that gas,” because I'd be damned if they try to shoot us like Renee, by saying we hit them with our car. [jump cut] Immediately, once they got behind our car, they rolled tear gas under it.
RIVERS: They say grenades detonated their air bags, trapping inside as gas filled their van. Then their 6-month-old baby stopped breathing.
JACKSON: I had to give my baby, like, mouth to mouth, and people are pouring milk all over my other kids. [jump cut] I thought I was dying, honestly.
RIVERS: Thankfully, everyone now okay. Homeland Security says they've made more than 2,500 arrests since Operation Metro Surge began in December.
***
MATT GUTMAN: The latest skirmishes come after a Venezuelan migrant was shot in the leg by a federal agent during an arrest Wednesday night, prompting hours of clashes.
MAN: There are kids in the car. There are kids in the car.
GUTMAN: During the chaos, Shawn and Destiny Jackson and their six children can be seen fleeing their vehicle after they say ICE agents dispersed tear gas near their car.
What was it like inside the vehicle?
SHAWN JACKSON: When I started feeling like I couldn't breathe, that's when I knew it had to be the tear gas.
DESTINY JACKSON: I was like fighting to get out.
GUTMAN: Did you pull up the kids one by one?
DESTINY JACKSON: Yeah, I was screaming, “I have kids out there. I have an infant in the car,” as well.
GUTMAN: She told us her 6-month-old had to be resuscitated at the scene.
I can't imagine anything more frightening than that for a mother.
DESTINY JACKSON: I was screaming, crying. My kids were screaming, crying.
GUTMAN: The family says that three of the six children had to be hospitalized. They’re now all at home recovering. DHS said in a statement that it never targeted the family or its innocent children, and if anything can quell the tension here, it might be this brutal cold snap that you are seeing, Tony, descend on the Midwest here.
