It sounds like straight reporting of the statements of said sheriff.
By Breitbart, btw, which publication is very much in sympathy with the idea of looters looking like “grated cheese”.
Granted it is a rather inapt figure of speech on the part of the sheriff. Perhaps he had other things on his mind. “Look like a cheese grater”, that is, full of holes, is probably better, and may have been what he meant to say. Or, better yet, “look like a colander”.
Correct. News is news and propaganda is propaganda. Both are easy to spot.