Gunman kills one, wounds two in Dallas ICE facility shooting

A gunman opened fire at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas on Sept. 24, killing one detainee and wounding two others, officials said. Authorities later identified the suspected shooter as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn, who died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to FOX News.

A sniper fired multiple rounds from the roof of a nearby building, striking detainees inside a law enforcement van, FOX reported. No ICE officers were injured.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told FOX the shooter may have been posted on the roof of a nearby apartment building. 

“We’ve been saying for months that the rhetoric around our law enforcement — particularly ICE — the dehumanization, the demonization has spun so far out of control,” McLaughlin said, “and someone is going to get hurt or someone is going to get killed.” 

McLaughlin noted that the Dallas ICE office faced a viable bomb threat nearly a month ago. According to an agency statement, 36-year-old Bratton Dean Wilkinson arrived at the field office and claimed to have a bomb in his backpack on Aug. 25. 

At a morning press conference, Joe Rothrock, special agent in charge of the Dallas FBI, said the attack is being investigated “as an act of targeted violence.” He said agents recovered shell casings near the suspected shooter inscribed with “messages that are anti-ICE in nature.” 

FBI Director Kash Patel later posted a photo of the recovered shell casings on X, showing one casing etched with the phrase “ANTI ICE.”

According to public records, Jahn pleaded guilty in 2016 to felony marijuana delivery in Texas, was a registered independent, and last voted in November 2024, NBC News reported.

Police said they responded to reports of a shooter around 6:40 a.m., and DHS later confirmed the attack in a statement.

The attack drew swift responses from public officials, many of whom called for an end to political violence.

“To every politician demonizing ICE and demonizing CBP, stop. To every politician demanding that ICE agents be doxxed and calling for people to go after their families, stop. This has very real consequences,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said at the morning press conference. “Look, in America, we disagree, that’s fine. That’s part of the democratic process. But your political opponents are not Nazis.

In an X post, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, condemned the shooting as an “assassination attempt” and vowed it would not slow deportation efforts.

President Donald Trump also blamed Democrats on social media, saying the attack was “the result of the Radical Left Democrats constantly demonizing Law Enforcement, calling for ICE to be demolished, and comparing ICE Officers to ‘Nazis.’” 

He added, “I AM CALLING ON ALL DEMOCRATS TO STOP THIS RHETORIC AGAINST ICE AND AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT, RIGHT NOW!” 

Earlier in the day, the White House rapid response account on X posted clips of Democrats  — including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and Connecticut Rep. John Larson — likening ICE to “Nazi Germany,” the Gestapo,” and “slave patrols.” 

Vice President JD Vance echoed Trump’s message in a Sept. 24 speech in North Carolina, delivered just hours after the Dallas shooting. 

“If you want to stop political violence, stop attacking our law enforcement as the Gestapo,” Vance said. “If you want to stop political felons, stop telling your supporters that everybody who disagrees with you is a Nazi. If you want to stop political violence, look in the mirror.”