29-year-old Joshua Jahn opened fire at a Dallas ICE facility, killing two detainees and critically injuring another before committing suicide. Authorities are investigating his background and possible extremist links.
The suspect in the Dallas ICE detention center shooting has been identified as a 29-year-old man with connections to North Texas and Oklahoma.
Joshua Jahn, 29, was the sniper who took lives of at least two people at the Dallas ICE facility early on Wednesday morning, according to FOX News and FOX 4 sources.
Joshua Jahn allegedly opened fire, killing two inmates and wounding one before shooting himself. According to law authorities, “anti-ICE messages” were scribbled on bullets found close to the shooter’s body.
What is ICE?
ICE, or US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is a federal agency under the Department of Homeland Security that enforces immigration laws – including arresting and deporting undocumented migrants – and investigates crimes such as human trafficking, drug smuggling and financial fraud.
In recent years, the agency has frequently clashed with protesters, particularly over detention conditions and deportation policies.
“The Department of Homeland Security reports assaults against its officers have risen eightfold since Trump began his mass deportations,” Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro reported from Washington.
Trump has made immigration enforcement a centrepiece of his presidency, with large-scale deportations and high-profile crackdowns.
“Now, the agency is deploying more security to its offices – while leaders warn that the US is headed in a dangerous direction if the political violence continues,” she added.
What happened and when?
Police said they got a call about a shooting at about 6:40am local time (11:40 GMT) on Wednesday, September 24.
Four people were shot. One detainee died, and two others were taken to hospital in critical condition.
The gunman – authorities described him as a “sniper” – died from a self-inflicted gunshot. Officials said he fired indiscriminately at the ICE building from a nearby rooftop. The victims were either inside a van near the entrance to the building or nearby.
Authorities “found bullets throughout the entire building that had punctured into the facility”, ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan said.
No police officers were hurt, according to FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Joe Rothrock.
The exact motivation for the attack was not immediately known. Still, FBI director Kash Patel described the attack as “politically motivated”.
“These despicable, politically motivated attacks against law enforcement are not a one-off,” Patel said in a social media post.
“We are only miles from Prairieland, Texas where just two months ago an individual ambushed a separate ICE facility targeting their officers.” On July 4, ICE said nearly a dozen individuals armed with tactical gear and weapons attacked its Prairieland facility, injuring an officer, who survived.
Where did the shooting happen?
The shooting took place at ICE’s field office in Dallas, which covers Texas and Oklahoma.
The ICE facility sits along Interstate 35 East, just southwest of Dallas Love Field, a major airport for the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and only a few blocks from hotels that serve travellers.
This wasn’t the first time the facility had been targeted.
Last month, 36-year-old US citizen Bratton Dean Wilkinson was arrested after arriving at the facility and claiming he had a bomb in his backpack, showing officers what he said was a detonator on his wrist.
What do we know about the suspect?
Lyons, the acting director of ICE, confirmed to Fox News that officials had identified the suspected attacker as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn.
Jahn had lived in a Dallas suburb, according to public records. According to authorities, the gunman killed himself after opening fire, and his body was found near the ICE facility he had fired at.
Court records show Jahn was arrested in 2015 for delivering marijuana to buyers. In 2016, he admitted to delivering between a quarter-ounce (7g) and five pounds (2.3kg). He was given five years of probation and a $500 fine.
Under Texas law, the charge is considered a “state jail felony”, which is the lowest level of felony offence in the state.
As Jahn’s name began circulating online, his older brother, Noah Jahn, spoke with a Reuters reporter. Noah, 30, who lives in McKinney, Texas – about 48km (30 miles) north of Dallas – said he was unaware of his brother having any negative feelings towards ICE.
“I didn’t know he had any political intent at all,” Noah said.
“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,” Ryan Sanderson, who met him in 2017, told The Associated Press news agency.
“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.”
What do we know about the victims?
Authorities have not released the identities of the victims. They said the three detainees who were shot were in the country without proper documentation and had been taken into custody and were awaiting transfer to a longer-term facility.
According to Mexico’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, one of the injured detainees is a Mexican national. The ministry said the individual is hospitalised with serious injuries, and that the Mexican consulate has contacted the family to provide support and legal assistance.
Joshua Jahn’s political affiliation and criminal background
Public records show Jahn’s parents live in Fairview, a Collin County suburb where FBI agents were seen searching the family’s home Wednesday afternoon. Dallas Police Chief David Comeaux told KDFW that Jahn may also have been living in Durant, Oklahoma.
Joshua Jahn had a 2015 arrest in Collin County for marijuana possession, according to county records. A car reportedly linked to him carried a sign reading: “Radioactive fallout from nuclear formations that’ve passed over these areas more than 2x since 1951.”
His older brother, Noah, told Reuters that the family had no warning of political motives. “I didn’t know he had any political intent at all,” said Noah, who lives in McKinney, Texas. “When none of us could reach him by phone, I started to fear the worst.”
Joshua Jahn: What we know about his parents
According to records, his parents reside in Fairview, a city in Collin County.
Fairview police are helping with their investigation, Dallas police said.
It’s possible that Jahn resided in Durant, Oklahoma.
“That’s what we are looking into,” Chief David Comeaux told FOX 4.
Joshua Jahn’s brother breaks silence
Joshua Jahn’s older brother, Noah Jahn, claimed he was unaware of Joshua’s intense hatred for ICE. Without going into any detail, Noah called his sibling “unique.” However, he claimed that Joshua Jahn was not someone he would have ever imagined taking part in a shooting with political motivations, NBC News reported.
“I didn’t think he was politically interested,” his brother Noah Jahn said. “He wasn’t interested in politics on either side as far as I knew.”
Did Joshua Jahn parents own a rifle?
Growing up in Allen, Texas, the Joshua Jahn siblings were active in the Boy Scouts. According to Noah, his brother had experience with coding but was presently unemployed and intended to move into his parents’ Oklahoma home.
Joshua Jahn was proficient with his parents’ gun, according to Noah Jahn. However, Noah stated that “he’s not a marksman, that’s for sure,” adding that “He would not be able to make any shots like that,” as per NBC News.
According to Noah, he met his brother at his parents’ house two weeks ago, and nothing appeared unusual to him.
No law enforcement officers were injured in the shooting. The detainees who were struck have not been publicly identified.
The incident adds to a series of recent attacks targeting immigration enforcement. “This is the third shooting in Texas directed at ICE or CBP. This must stop,” Sen. Ted Cruz said at a press conference.
Authorities continue to investigate Jahn’s activities and whether he had links to extremist groups. However, Right-wing activist Laura Loomer claimed she found ANTIFA connections on Jahn’s Facebook profile. “I did a background check on Joshua Jahn, the ICE shooter in Dallas, Texas. Joshua Jahn’s profile picture from his now-deleted Facebook page reveals ANTIFA and communist imagery,” Loomer posted. She added that the image depicted “an armed communist with the hammer and sickle” alongside the text GLORIOUS EXPOSITION, COMRADE. Loomer also noted Jahn’s previous marijuana conviction.
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