Names of officers who killed Smith unlikely to ever go public Due to their undercover status, legal barriers are high for their names to be released. July 11, 2021 — 8:43pm Text size Copy shortlink: It's unlikely that the names of the officers who fatally shot Winston Smith atop a Minneapolis parking ramp last month will ever be made public. Minnesota and federal laws call for concealment of the names of officers working undercover, and the legal hurdles against their release are high — especially since they were deputized as federal agents by the U.S. Marshals North Star Fugitive Task Force. "The government has a privilege to conceal the identities of officers acting in undercover capacity," said John Marti, a former federal prosecutor in Minnesota.