Did a real former law enforcement officer, "Kramer Hammy" write a critique of the ICE shooting incident in Minneapolis in which Renee Good was killed? Yes, that's true: The person who wrote the essay is a former deputy sheriff. "Kramer Hammy" is a social media handle, not her legal name. Lead Stories communicated with the author through messenger, and independently verified with the state where she had been trained and certified, and with the department where she had been employed for several years as a deputy.
One example of the widely distributed essay circulating on social media was reposted on Substack (archived here) by Tom Hoefling on Jan. 9, 2026. It begins:
Former law enforcement officer, Kramer Hammy:
"It is clear that US citizens' ignorance of federal laws and law enforcement duties, procedures, and limits of authority is getting to the point where it is deadly. I spent probably 3 hours watching and re-watching, and finding every single video and angle I could of the situation in Minnesota yesterday and came to one immovable conclusion based off of what I saw and what I know from a professional standpoint. This is long, but please give it a read.
The full essay, reposted on Substack, is contained in the two screenshots shown side by side below :
(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from substack.com/profile/3100212-tom-hoefling/note/c-197600374.)
The scope of this fact check does not extend to the points made in the essay. Many people on social media were questioning if the essay really was written by a former law enforcement officer. Several had also incorrectly assumed that Kramer Hammy is a man, and at least one of them also questioned (archived here) if the piece could have been written by AI.
Lead Stories contacted the author through the "Kramer Hammy" Facebook account to verify if they were a former law enforcement officer. She explained that she would like to keep her legal name - and the name of the agencies where she has worked - out of the public eye, but indicated she was happy to work with our verification process. Kramer Hammy is an online handle she wrote under. Hammy provided Lead Stories with her legal name and a photo in uniform at a special event. This photo aligned with another photo from the same event that was posted on the department's Facebook page.
Lead Stories reached out to the Department of Public Safety, responsible for the Peace Officer Standards and Training Academy (POST) in the state in question. The Deputy Commissioner confirmed to Lead Stories in a Jan. 12, 2026 email that she had been certified as a Special Function Officer (SFO) in 2017 after completing a block of training that lasts about five weeks, and that certification has since lapsed. The Deputy Commissioner noted she did not complete the additional 11 weeks of training for the classification of certified Law Enforcement Officer (LEO). Finally, Lead Stories spoke with the public information officer at the department in question. He confirmed her employment there as a Deputy Sheriff with the Public Safety Bureau from 2018-2020.
