‘ANTI-ICE’ written on bullet in deadly US shooting
Rich Matthews and Andrew Hay |
A gunman, who wrote “ANTI-ICE” on an unused bullet, has fired on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas from a nearby rooftop, officials say, killing a detainee and badly wounding two others before taking his own life.
US President Donald Trump and members of his administration seized on the attack as the latest instance of what they characterised as an escalation of politically motivated violence incited by the left.
They accused California Governor Gavin Newsom and other Democrats of stirring hate by unfairly vilifying law enforcement and conservative political figures.
FBI Director Kash Patel posted a photo on X showing what he said was the suspect’s unused ammunition, with the shell casing of one round inscribed with “ANTI-ICE”.
“While the investigation is ongoing, an initial review of the evidence shows an ideological motive behind this attack,” Patel wrote.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem later said in a Fox News interview that the gunman “was targeting ICE”, based on “evidence so far in this case”.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump accused “Radical Left Democrats” of stoking anti-ICE violence by “constantly demonizing Law Enforcement, calling for ICE to be demolished, and comparing ICE Officers to Nazis”.
Invoking the recent assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, Trump said “radical left terrorists” posed a “grave threat” to law enforcement and “must be stopped”.
Trump said he would sign an executive order to “dismantle these domestic terrorism networks”.
He offered no evidence to support the notion that “networks” were behind recent acts of political violence, or that left-wing perpetrators were any more prevalent than those on the right.
The Department of Homeland Security said the suspect fired “indiscriminately” at the ICE facility, including at a van in the secured entryway where the victims were shot.
DHS said one detainee was killed and two others were in critical condition.
Noem later appeared on Fox and confirmed reports that the suspected gunman was Joshua Jahn, 29, and said he had fired into the building from a nearby rooftop.
Jahn’s older brother, Noah, spoke with a Reuters reporter as Joshua Jahn’s name began circulating online in connection with the shooting.
Noah Jahn, 30, said he was not aware that his brother harboured any negative feelings about ICE.
“I didn’t know he had any political intent at all,” said the older brother, who lives in McKinney, north of Dallas, as did his sibling.
The shooting came two weeks after Kirk, a close ally of Trump, was shot dead by a sniper during a speaking event on September 10 in Utah, fuelling fears of a new wave of political violence in the United States.
Kirk’s murder set off a firestorm of political recriminations and deepened concerns among Trump’s critics that the Republican president would use that killing to justify further cracking down on his perceived opponents.
A 22-year-old student from Utah has been charged with Kirk’s murder, though authorities have not suggested a precise motive for the attack.
Trump, Vice-President JD Vance and other administration officials have blamed, without proof, liberal organisations for fomenting unrest and inciting violence against the right.
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order declaring the anti-fascist movement antifa a domestic “terrorist organisation” despite the fact there has been no evidence made public linking antifa to Kirk’s death.
At a briefing on Wednesday, Joseph Rothrock, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Dallas field office, said investigators were treating the pre-dawn attack at the ICE office as an “act of targeted violence”.
The site was an ICE field office where immigration officers conduct short-term processing of recently arrested detainees.
The Trump administration’s aggressive use of ICE agents as part of its crackdown on undocumented immigrants has sparked outcries from Democrats and liberal activists.
ICE detention facilities have increasingly become flashpoints of protests and unrest, and Wednesday’s attack was the third shooting in 2025 in Texas at a DHS facility.
Reuters
