An MS NOW journalist has been accused of defending a gunman who shot two National Guardsmen in Washington, DC, leaving them critically wounded.
Justice and Intelligence Correspondent Ken Dilanian speculated Wednesday that the gunman, who has not yet been named, may have mistaken the West Virginia guardsmen for members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
'But of course, there's so much controversy happening now in the United States, with ICE, who are also wearing uniforms and wearing masks,' Dilanian said live at 3pm ET on Katy Tur Reports.
'And, so, you don’t know - people walking around with uniforms in an American city, there are some Americans who might object to that. And so, apparently this shooting has happened.'
The remarks were quickly picked up by viewers, with Media Research Center's NewsBusters's Curtis Houck resharing the clip on X.
Houck captioned the post: 'MS NOW's Ken Dilanian just after 3pm Eastern on the shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington DC.'
It was then reshared by conservative X account Breaking911, which wrote of Dilanian: 'MSNBC already defending the gunman who killed US troops on American soil.'
MS NOW was renamed from MSNBC last week, after the left-leaning news network split from its former parent company Comcast.
Dilanian joined MSNBC in May, after working at NBC News for nearly a decade. He made the move to newly named MS Now as part of the split.
He appeared to be referring to unrest surrounding ICE operations currently occurring across the United States, which at times have been met with violence.
Other onlookers also criticized Dilanian afterwards.
'Hopefully Ken Dilanian just ended his career. Blaming of the very soldiers who lost their lives,' one viewer wrote.
'It’s okay to shoot people in a uniform if they might be ICE?' wrote another.
'Regardless of your feelings about men/women in uniforms, there’s NEVER an excuse to shoot them!' said someone else.
'These people will stop at nothing. Absolutely sick in the head,' a fourth added.
Dilanian's comments come a little over two months after the network fired another one of its journalists after he called Charlie Kirk 'divisive' minutes after the conservative activist was fatally shot on September 10.
Dilanian appeared to be referring to unrest over ICE operations occurring across the United States, which at times has been met with violence.