A deadly shooting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dallas, TX, on Wednesday morning left two detainees dead and another critically injured.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the suspected shooter, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, had written anti-ICE messages on rounds of ammunition used in the attack.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the incident on social media. She wrote that “multiple injuries and fatalities” occurred and called the attack part of a disturbing trend of escalating violence against immigration enforcement officers.
“While we don’t know motive yet, we know that our ICE law enforcement is facing unprecedented violence against them. It must stop,” Noem said.
Investigators say the shooter was identified as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn of Collin County, TX. He opened fire from an adjacent building, targeting the ICE facility and a van in the sallyport area where detainees were being processed.
The gunfire struck three individuals. Two of them died from their injuries, while a third was transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition. No ICE agents or law enforcement officers were injured in the attack.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Joe Rothrock said during a press conference that several shell casings recovered at the scene contained anti-ICE messages. He called the incident “the latest example of politically motivated violence directed at federal law enforcement.”
“This will be a whole-of-government response,” Rothrock said. “There will be no resource not utilized to bring all those individuals who are responsible to justice and to hold them accountable.”
FBI Director Kash Patel posted images of the marked casings online and condemned the attack as “an assault on the rule of law.”
Authorities say the suspect acted alone. He used a rifle to fire from a rooftop near the ICE office just after 6:40 a.m. local time. One of the victims died at the scene, while two others were taken to the hospital. The shooter was later found dead from a self-inflicted wound.
The attack is the third shooting in Texas this year targeting ICE or U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel or facilities. In July, an ICE officer was shot in the neck during an ambush at a facility in Alvarado, TX.
Top officials condemned the violence and pointed to increasingly hostile rhetoric directed at ICE as a factor contributing to the attack. “Comparing ICE day in and day out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences,” Noem said in a follow-up statement.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) vowed the state’s cooperation with federal investigators. He said the incident would not deter Texas from assisting federal immigration enforcement.
“This assassination will NOT slow our arrest, detention, and deportation of illegal immigrants,” Abbott wrote. “We will work with ICE and the Dallas Police Department to get to the bottom of the assassin’s motive.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) also denounced the shooting as part of a dangerous wave of politically motivated violence. “This needs to stop,” Cruz said. “To every politician who is using rhetoric, demonizing ICE and demonizing CBP: stop.”
Officials noted that the same Dallas ICE field office had received multiple bomb threats in recent weeks. The FBI, DHS, and local law enforcement continue to investigate the incident.