Freddie Lounds just identified him as Salvatore Quisma. We can see if anyone else who claimed to be visited by his spirit at the cemetery opening ceremonies last month can likewise support that identification - check back on Kara Styrdottir's conversations here. I believe she brought the subject up after the fact, and people were speaking on what he had been trying to communicate at that time.

I didn't witness him personally. As for trouble with the public, yes. There was a lot of tension recorded between the native heroes and the government following the 2008 killings with the Death Ray.