Since 1996 , O'Keefe has freelanced for '' The New York Times '' on a wide variety of subjects , including Carl Icahn , the NFL , and Willie Nelson . In 1997 , O'Keefe was one of the first journalists to report on the shooting death of 18-year-old Esequiel Hernandez Jr. by Cpl. Clemente Banuelos , a U.S. Marine on a drug interdiction training mission near Redford , Texas . The high school student was the first U.S. civilian killed by active duty military personnel since the Kent State shootings in 1970 . O'Keefe also reported for The Times on the 1998 settlement by the Department of the Navy and the Justice Department with the Hernandez family . The shooting subsequently inspired '' The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada '' ( 2005 ) , a movie directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones
Kent State shootings
Kent State shootings
Eric O'Keefe