The FBI said it was investigating the shooting as “an act of targeted violence.”
DALLAS — A gunman brandishing a rifle initiated an attack from an adjacent rooftop targeting a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement site in Dallas on Wednesday. The assault resulted in the death of one detainee and left two others injured inside a transport van before the shooter ended his own life, officials reported.
The law enforcement official identified the assailant as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn. Due to the ongoing investigation and confidentiality protocols, the official requested anonymity while providing information to The Associated Press.
Authorities have not yet determined the shooter’s specific motive. FBI Director Kash Patel shared an image online depicting a bullet recovered at the crime scene inscribed with “ANTI-ICE.”
This violent event marks the latest targeted attack in the U.S., occurring merely two weeks after conservative figure Charlie Kirk was fatally shot by a gunman. The episode comes amid intensifying immigration enforcement activities that have sparked backlash against ICE personnel and instilled fear within immigrant populations.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association responded by labeling the shootings as “a stark reminder that behind every immigration case number is a human being deserving of dignity, safety, and respect.”
“Be they individuals navigating the immigration process, public servants fulfilling their roles, or professionals engaged with the system, everyone has the right to be free from violence and fear,” the association emphasized in a public statement.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that shots were fired “indiscriminately at the ICE building, including at a van in the sallyport,” a secure and gated entryway.
The wounded detainees were in critical condition at a hospital, said DHS, which previously said two detainees were killed and one was wounded before issuing a correction.
No ICE agents were injured.
By the evening, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered more security at ICE facilities across the U.S., according to a post by DHS on the social platform X.
‘Targeted violence’
At a midday news conference, authorities gave few details about the shooting and did not release the names of the victims or the gunman.
The FBI said it was investigating the shooting as “an act of targeted violence.”
Officers responded to a call to assist an officer on North Stemmons Freeway around 6:40 a.m. and determined that someone had opened fire at a government building from an adjacent building, Dallas police spokesperson Officer Jonathan E. Maner said via email.
The gunman used a bolt action rifle, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Edwin Cardona, an immigrant from Venezuela, said he was entering the ICE building with his son for an appointment around 6:20 a.m. when he heard gunshots. An agent took people who were inside to a more secure area and said there was an active shooter.
“I was afraid for my family, because my family was outside. I felt terrible, because I thought something could happen to them. Thank God, no,” Cardona said.
Cardona said they were later reunited.
The ICE facility is along Interstate 35 East, just southwest of Dallas Love Field, a large airport serving the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, and blocks from hotels.
Who was Joshua Jahn?
Hours after the shooting, FBI agents gathered at a suburban Dallas home that public records link to Jahn.
It sits on a tree-lined cul-de-sac in a neighborhood dotted with one- and two-story brick homes. The street was blocked by a Fairview police vehicle, but officials wearing FBI jackets could be seen in the front yard.
A spokesperson for Collin College in nearby McKinney, said via email that a Joshua Jahn studied there “at various times” between 2013 and 2018.
Martyna Kowalczyk, CEO of Texas-based Solartime USA, said in a statement that Jahn worked for her company for less than a few months “many years ago.”
In late 2017, Jahn drove cross-country to work a minimum-wage job harvesting marijuana for several months, according to Ryan Sanderson, owner of a legal cannabis farm in Washington state.
“He’s a young kid, a thousand miles from home, didn’t really seem to have any direction, living out of his car at such a young age,” Sanderson told AP. “I don’t remember him being that abnormal. He didn’t seem to fight with anyone or cause trouble. He kept his head down and stayed working.”
Sanderson said he tried to keep Jahn longer because he “felt bad for him.”
Calls for an end to political violence
Shortly after the shooting and before officials said at least one victim was a detainee, Vice President JD Vance posted on X that “the obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop.”
Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who represents Texas, continued in that direction, calling for an end to political violence.
“To every politician who is using rhetoric demonizing ICE and demonizing CPB: Stop,” Cruz told reporters, referencing Customs and Border Protection.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson called the shooting not just an attack on law enforcement and the victims but “an attack on our community and on our nation’s heritage of civil and democratic discourse.”
The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, an advocacy group, said the shootings are “a heartbreaking reminder of the violence and fear that too often touch the lives of migrants and the communities where they live.”
“Violence must never be allowed to define how we respond to migration,” said Anna Gallagher, the group’s executive director.
The Rev. Ashley Anne Sipe, who prays outside the Dallas ICE facility every Monday said: “Violence doesn’t heal anything.”
Sipe and other local faith leaders who have decried deportations hold weekly vigils and serve as “moral witnesses.” They pray and observe for about three hours, watching as immigrants enter the building to meet with advisers and report for check-ins.
Sipe said she has noticed in recent months that people who enter are shuttled away on buses.
“They’re taking them away, and we don’t know where they’re taking them,” Sipe said.
Noem: ICE agents targeted
Noem noted a recent uptick in targeting of ICE agents.
On July 4 attackers in black, military-style clothing opened fire outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, southwest of Dallas, federal prosecutors said. One police officer was injured. At least 11 people have been charged in connection with the attack.
Days later a man with an assault rifle fired dozens of rounds at federal agents leaving a U.S. Border Patrol facility in McAllen. The man, identified as Ryan Louis Mosqueda, injured a police officer who responded to the scene before authorities shot and killed him.
And in suburban Chicago, federal authorities erected a fence around an immigration processing center after tensions flared with protesters. President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up immigration enforcement in the Chicago area, resulting in hundreds of arrests.
Ahead of the latest immigration operation, federal officials boarded up windows at the center. Sixteen people have been arrested outside, according to authorities who called the activists “rioters.”
Attacks, escapes concern at some ICE offices
Dozens of field offices across the country house administrative employees and are used for people summoned for check-in appointments and to process people arrested before they are transferred to long-term detention centers. They are not designed to hold people in custody.
Security varies by location, with some located in federal buildings and others mixed with private businesses, said John Torres, a former acting director of the agency and former head of what is now called its enforcement and removals division.
Some, like Dallas, have exposed loading areas for buses, which pose risks for escape and outside attack, Torres said. Other vulnerabilities are nearby vantage points for snipers and long lines forming outside without protection.
“I would assure you that ICE, after today, is going to be a taking a hard look at physical security assessments for all of their facilities,” said Torres, currently head of security and technology consulting at Guidepost Solutions.
Brook reported from New Orleans. Associated Press journalists Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, Jeff Martin and R.J. Rico in Atlanta, Sophia Tareen in Chicago, Mike Balsamo in New York and Julio Cortez in Dallas contributed.
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