1 detainee killed, 2 others critically injured in Dallas ICE facility shooting: officials

A crap-shooter with a go opened go off from a nearby roof onto a U.S. In-migration and customs duty Enforcement (ICE) location in Dallas on Wednesday, killing one detainee and wounding two others before taking his own life, authorities said.

Officials initially stated that two of the three detainees shot had been killed, but the Department of Homeland Security clarified in a statement Wednesday afternoon that two remain in critical condition. 

The suspect has been identified by law enforcement as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn. The official could not publicly disclose details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The exact motivation of the attack was not immediately known. The head of the agency, Kash Patel, released a photo on social media that shows a bullet containing the words "ANTI-ICE" written in what appears to be marker.

"The shooter fired indiscriminately at the ICE building, including at a van in the sallyport where the victims were shot," the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. 

No ICE agents were injured. 

The shooting occurred at the local field office in Dallas, where agents conduct short-term processing of those in custody. 

At a news conference earlier in the day, 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."

The attack is the latest public targeted killing in the U.S. And comes two weeks after conservative leader Charlie Kirk was killed by a rifle-wielding shooter on a roof. 

Edwin Cardona, an immigrant from Venezuela, said he was entering the ICE building with his son for an appointment around 6:20 a.m. Wednesday when he heard gunshots.

An agent gathered people who were inside the building, took them to a more secure area and explained that there was an active shooter in the area, Cardona said.

"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 his family was brought into the building and they were later reunited.

The ICE facility sits along Interstate 35 East, just southwest of Dallas Love Field, a large commercial airport serving the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, and blocks from hotels catering to airport travellers.

Traffic cameras near the scene show six lanes of a normally busy freeway completely empty, with cars and semi-trailers at a halt on an interstate exit.

Shortly after the shooting and before officials said at least one victim was a detainee, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance posted on the social platform X that "the obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop."

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, from Texas, continued in that direction, calling for an end to politically motivated violence during a Wednesday news briefing.

"To every politician who is using rhetoric, demonizing ICE and demonizing [Customs and Border Protection]: Stop," Cruz told reporters.

But immediately after the news conference in which officials refused to say whether the victims included detainees, Democratic U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey called in to Dallas' WFAA-TV newscast and told them he was "absolutely sickened" by some officials' comments.

"If they are trying to control this narrative and they don't want migrants to be the victim in this story, then they may want to slow-walk giving us any information about this, so they can still keep on talking about attacks on ICE," Veasey said.

The Rev. Ashley Anne Sipe, who prays outside of the Dallas ICE facility every Monday, called the shooting heartbreaking.   

"Violence doesn't heal anything," Sipe, a pastor in Lewisville near Dallas, told the Associated Press.

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 to report for
check-ins.   

Over the past couple of months, Sipe said she has noticed that people who walk into the building are shuttled away on buses.   

"They're taking them away, and we don't know where they're taking them," Sipe said.

The incident comes after a bomb threat on the same facility last month and several months after a Fourth of July attack at a Texas immigration detention centre injured a police officer, who was shot in the neck.

Attackers dressed in black military-style clothing opened fire outside the Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, southwest of Dallas, federal prosecutors have said. At least 11 people have been charged in connection with that attack.

A separate attack took place several days later, when a heavily armed man opened fire on federal agents with an assault rifle at a U.S. Border Patrol facility in Texas, near the U.S.-Mexico border, injuring a police officer before authorities shot and killed him. 

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