Dallas ICE Facility Attacked

Post Reply New Topic

Three detainees were shot at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas this morning, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

One person is dead, and two others are in critical condition, according to DHS. No ICE officers were hurt, Dallas police said at a news conference. The victims’ identities have not been publicly released.

The shooter, who was found dead with a self-inflicted gun wound, has been identified as Joshua Jahn, according to multiple senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation.

A bullet found near the shooter bore messages that were "anti-ICE in nature," special agent in charge of the Dallas FBI office, Joe Rothrock, said at a news conference. He said the attack was an act of "targeted violence."

The shooter fired multiple rounds from a nearby roof or an elevated position down into the field office’s sally port, an ICE spokesperson confirmed.

The motive or what the shooter was targeting was not immediately clear.

The shooter fired multiple rounds from a nearby roof or an elevated position down into the field office’s sally port,

A 29-year-old Texas man opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas on Wednesday, the second instance in two weeks of a gunman setting up with a rifle on a rooftop, opening fire and communicating a message through writing on bullets.

Authorities identified the shooter as Joshua Jahn. He was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Vice President JD Vance said evidence that is “not yet public” indicates the shooter was “politically motivated” to go after law enforcement and people enforcing the border.

Vance called Jahn “a violent left-wing extremist.” Authorities have yet to release an official motive. The FBI special agent in charge in Dallas, Joe Rothrock, said the attack was “targeted violence.”

Three detainees in a van in the facility’s sally port were shot. No ICE officers were hurt in the shooting, Dallas police said at a news conference. One person was killed, and two others are in critical condition, according to federal officials.

A bullet found near the shooter had the words “anti-ICE” written on it, according to the FBI. Other recent shooters, including those who assassinated Charlie Kirk and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, have also engraved messages on bullets.

The anti-ICE messaging surprised Joshua Jahn’s brother, Noah Jahn.

“He didn’t have strong feelings about ICE as far as I knew,” Noah Jahn said of his brother, who DHS officials said fired at the ICE building “indiscriminately.”

Public records show that Joshua Jahn registered as an independent in Oklahoma and last voted in November.

In 2016, he was charged in Texas with delivering marijuana in an amount greater than ¼-ounce but less than 5 pounds. He pleaded guilty to the felony charge, records show.

Noah Jahn described his brother as “unique” but said he was not one he ever would have thought would be involved in a politically motivated shooting.

“I didn’t think he was politically interested,” he said. “He wasn’t interested in politics on either side as far as I knew.”

He said they grew up about 30 miles away in Allen, Texas. He said that they were Boy Scouts and that his brother took an interest in coding but was unemployed. Joshua Jahn had been planning to move onto their parents’ property in Oklahoma, his brother said.

Noah Jahn said that the last time he saw his brother was two weeks ago at their parents’ house and that nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

A man who said he had known Joshua Jahn since his early teens as a member of the same Boy Scout troop in Texas said Jahn did voice his opinions about politics, and he recalled a conversation several years ago about migrant caravans entering the United States.

“He was just upset about how people were not understanding people’s desperation to get out of bad situations and how immigration was being handled as a whole,” the troop member said.

The troop member, who asked not to be named for fear of harassment, said that the shooter was “passionate” about his stance on issues but that he did not know him to be “the action type of person.”

The troop member was surprised that Jahn had been identified as the shooter.

“He was pretty against it,” the fellow troop member said of the notion of gun violence, “so that’s why this is making it even more surprising. He was not somebody that would condone those kind of actions.”

The troop member said he remained friends with him as an adult but lost touch about five years ago when Jahn said he was planning to move to Oklahoma.

He said the shooter’s father was an active troop leader. He said Jahn had helped him move a couple of times.

“He was one of those people that I would call for help, just in different situations, whether it be emotional support or physical support,” the troop member said.

According to Noah Jahn, his brother was “not a marksman” but knew how to use their parents’ rifle. Noah said he did not think his brother would have been able to fire accurately from a nearby roof.

When a Texas gunman fired on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas, he was targeting federal employees he believed were collecting a "dirty paycheck" and involved in "human trafficking," officials said Thursday.

Federal officials said the gunman had been plotting his attack and knew how to locate the agents because of ICE tracking apps.

Joshua Jahn, 29, made his intention for Wednesday’s attack at an ICE field office in Dallas clear in writings and through a trail left on his devices, federal officials said.

“Jahn specifically intended to kill ICE agents. ... He searched for information about the office building and how to track ICE agents’ locations,” Joseph Rothrock, FBI special agent in charge.

“He knew, with a high likelihood, ICE detainees would be transported that morning in the exact location where he was facing from his perch on a nearby rooftop.”

No ICE agents were injured in the attack that left one detainee dead and two others injured.

“He wrote that he intended to maximize lethality against ICE personnel and to maximize property damage at the facility," said Nancy Larson, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

“He hoped his actions would terrorize ICE employees and interfere with their work, which he called human trafficking,” she said Thursday. “And this ... is the very definition of terrorism.”

Marcos Charles, field office director of enforcement and removal operations, said the gunman's use of ICE tracking apps highlights the danger they present to law enforcement.

The crowdsourcing platforms encourage users to share information about sightings of ICE agents.

"Anyone who creates or distributes these apps that is designed to spot, track and locate ICE, officers are well aware of the dangers that they are exposing to law enforcement. ... It’s no different than giving a hit man the location of their intended target," Charles said.

Jahn allegedly went into this attack with the expectation of dying, and he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.

“His handwritten notes indicate that he did not expect to survive this event,” Rothrock, FBI special agent in charge of the FBI’s Dallas field office, told reporters.

In the handwritten notes, Jahn allegedly wrote, “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ‘is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?’” according to a statement by FBI Director Kash Patel.

Patel said the FBI also uncovered the following so far in its investigation:

A document downloaded by Jahn containing a list of various Department of Homeland Security locations.

Evidence of "multiple searches of ballistics and the 'Charlie Kirk Shot Video.' ”
In late August, Jahn allegedly "searched apps that tracked the presence of ICE agents."

Further evidence “indicates a high degree of pre-attack planning,” Patel said.

Three detainees in a van in the Dallas ICE facility’s sally port were shot.

A bullet found near the shooter had the words “anti-ICE” written on it, according to the FBI.

Vice President JD Vance has said evidence indicates the shooter was “politically motivated” to go after law enforcement and those enforcing the border.

He called the shooter a "violent left-wing extremist."

However, the region's top federal prosecutor said there's no proof that Jahn belonged to any organization.

"His words were definitively anti-ICE," said Larson. "That said, we did not find evidence of membership in any specific group or entity, nor did he mention any specific government agency other than ICE."

No federal agents were injured in the gunfire.

Officials said Jahn likely acted alone, out of his hatred for Washington.

Investigators said they've found video footage showing Jahn driving a car with a ladder on top of it as early as 3 a.m., Larson said.

He eventually used that ladder to climb to his rooftop perch and open fire at about 6:30 a.m., officials said.