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What to know about the Dallas ICE detention center shooter and victims<\/p>\n
New details have emerged about the suspect and victims in the Dallas ICE detention center shooting. At least one of the victims was a Mexican national.<\/p>\n
DALLAS \u2014 The man who fatally shot one detainee at an immigration facility in Dallas<\/a> and wounded two others had “specifically intended to kill ICE agents,” officials said on Sept. 25, citing a trove of writings retrieved from the alleged shooter’s home.<\/p>\n Nancy Larson, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said 29-year-old Joshua Jahn<\/a> left behind handwritten notes in which he described a “game plan of the attack” and a desire to give ICE agents “real terror.” Larson said Jahn also wished to “minimize any collateral damage or injury to the detainees.”<\/p>\n “The tragic irony for his evil plot here is that it was a detainee who was killed and two other detainees that were injured,” she said, adding that authorities believe Jahn acted alone.<\/p>\n The latest information comes a day after Jahn allegedly fired at the facility from a nearby rooftop before turning a gun on himself. Authorities say Jahn was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene. Near his body, investigators located an unspent shell casing with the phrase “ANTI-ICE” written on it, according to FBI Director Kash Patel<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was the latest shooting to stir a tense national debate over political rhetoric and acts of violence. Two weeks earlier, conservative activist and President Donald Trump<\/a> ally Charlie Kirk was killed<\/a> with a single shot during a speaking event at a Utah university.<\/p>\n “This is wrong. Politically motivated violence is wrong,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said.<\/p>\n Justice Department: <\/strong>Dallas ICE gunman wanted to inspire ‘real terror’<\/a><\/p>\n Larson said that Jahn, in his notes, expressed “hatred for the federal government” and a wish to “terrorize ICE employees and interfere with their work, which he called human trafficking.”<\/p>\n “This, what he did, is the very definition of terrorism,” Larson said.<\/p>\n Patel said investigators recovered a handwritten note reading, “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ‘is there a sniper with AP (armor piercing) rounds on that roof?'”<\/p>\n Larson added that Jahn claimed full responsibility for the attack, writing: “Yes, it was just me and my brain.” She added that investigators believe the shooter acted alone and did not find evidence of “membership in any specific group or entity.”<\/p>\n In his writings, Jahn did not mention any specific government agency other than ICE, Larson said.<\/p>\n Jahn also allegedly wrote “good luck with the digital footprint,” which authorities are taking to mean Jahn deleted evidence from his devices, according to Larson.<\/p>\n About 25 people showed up to a candlelight vigil just outside Parkland Hospital, where the two detainees injured in the shooting were recovering from their wounds.<\/p>\n Members of several advocacy groups voiced a growing complaint within Dallas’ immigrant community: That the federal government is not releasing any details about \u2013 or scarcely acknowledging \u2013 the person slain and two others who were critically injured in the shooting.<\/p>\n “We want to get in touch with the families, we want to provide them direct community support and make sure they\u2019re getting that support,” said Flaka Martinez, an organizer with Vecinos Unidos, an immigrant advocacy group.<\/p>\n “If they can\u2019t even acknowledge and identify the people who were the true victims in this situation, we can\u2019t believe anything they say about what happened,” she said.<\/p>\n \u2212 Rick Jervis<\/p>\n Emily Castillo, 43, a sociologist and volunteer with Vecinos Unidos, said some immigrant families haven\u2019t heard from their loved ones who were recently swept up in ICE raids \u2013 and still don\u2019t know if they were victims of the recent attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re living in fear that their family member is the person who was killed or their family member is a person who is a victim,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s undue trauma and undue fear that\u2019s being projected onto family members because there\u2019s no system of transparency and checks and balances.\u201d<\/p>\n One attendee, who asked to be identified only as Onyx, for fear of retribution from ICE, lit votive candles and waved around the scented smoke of an herbal mix of bay leaf and motherwort, in a ceremony she called a limpieza, or cleansing.<\/p>\n “Helps with the energy,” she said. “It\u2019s been pretty heavy lately.”<\/p>\n \u2212 Rick Jervis<\/p>\n Joseph Rothrock, special agent in charge of the\u00a0Dallas FBI field office<\/a>, described the “significant, high degree of pre-attack planning” that preceded the deadly shooting.<\/p>\n Rothrock said Jahn searched for information about the ICE facility and how to track the location of ICE agents.<\/p>\n “He knew with a high likelihood that ICE detainees would be transported that morning in the exact location where he was facing from his perch on a nearby rooftop,” Rothrock said.<\/p>\n Patel shared on X that the shooter allegedly downloaded a document containing a list of Department of Homeland Security facilities, searched for apps that tracked the presence of ICE agents, sought ballistics information and looked into video footage of the assassination of Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n The FBI said the gunman fired at transport vehicles carrying ICE personnel, federal agents, and detainees, firing multiple shots into the windows of the office building where ICE employees were working.<\/p>\n Rothrock described the gun used in the attack as an 8mm bolt-action rifle that Jahn legally purchased in August.<\/p>\n Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem<\/a> identified<\/a> the targeted facility as a “processing facility,” a type of Immigration and Customs Enforcement site playing an increasing role in the White House\u2019s immigration enforcement crackdown, according to experts. Processing or holding centers serve as sites for agents to register detainees and hold them overnight if necessary.<\/p>\n Over 10,000 people have gone through the facility in Dallas so far during fiscal year 2025, according to data shared with USA TODAY by the Transactional Records Access Clearing House, a research group that tracks immigration enforcement data. Data shows that immigration authorities are using the sites as temporary detainment sites more frequently, although detainees are not supposed to be held at the centers for over 72 hours, Long said.<\/p>\n On average, 45 people were held at the facility overnight in July, compared to just one per night during fiscal year 2024, according to info Long\u2019s group obtained via the Freedom of Information Act. At its max, the Dallas site can hold 103 people.<\/p>\n Long, who co-founded the immigration enforcement data group in 1989, said the site is one of just many around the country that play an underappreciated role in deportation proceedings: “This is happening all around,” said Long, “and more and more so as more people are getting picked up.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Larson said authorities believe Jahn used a ladder to access the rooftop from which he launched his attack. She said the suspect was seen driving with a “large ladder” on his car around 3 a.m. on the morning of the shooting.<\/p>\n The gunfire began ringing out around 6:30 a.m. local time, officials said.<\/p>\n Multiple officials said Jahn is believed to have acted alone. Jahn in his writings, claimed full responsibility for the shooting, Larson said.<\/p>\n She added that investigators did not find evidence of “membership in any specific group or entity.”<\/p>\n In his writings, Jahn did not mention any specific government agency other than ICE, Larson said.<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security said it plans to beef up safety protocols at ICE facilities across the country following the fatal shooting in Dallas.<\/p>\n Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin blasted the rising violence against ICE agents. In a statement to USA TODAY, she cited “unprecedented acts of violence against ICE law enforcement, including bomb threats, cars being used a weapons, rocks and Molotov cocktails thrown at officers, and doxing online of officers’ families.”<\/p>\n McLaughlin didn\u2019t provide additional details regarding the new security tactics. Federal facilities are often already guarded and screened by security officers. They’re also typically surrounded by fencing, cameras, and other security measures.<\/p>\n \u2212Lauren Villagran<\/p>\n ‘Safety should be a priority’: <\/strong>Amid ICE attacks, worries about getting caught in the crosshairs<\/a><\/p>\n White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted<\/a> a popular app that flags sightings of immigration officers following reports that the alleged shooter in Dallas had previously used the program, known as ICEBlock.<\/p>\n ICEBlock\u2019s developer Joshua Aaron defended the service in an interview with USA TODAY in the wake of the shooting. He called the theory that reported sightings of ICE officers led directly to this week\u2019s shooting “insanity.”<\/p>\n As of this month the app has 1.1 million active users, Aaron said. He compared the app to Waze, which flags speeding enforcement by police.<\/p>\n Aaron said he\u2019s yet to receive any communication from the government.<\/p>\n \u201cI have an amazing legal team, and it makes no sense for them to try to do anything to shut it down,\u201d Aaron said. \u201cSo that leaves them with these performative statements and trying to bully me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2212Nick Penzenstadler<\/p>\n