By Isabella McHugh
Staff Writer
Terror erupted in Dallas, Texas on Sept. 24 after a sniper shot at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office, causing the death of one person and injuries to two others according to NBC News.
The shooter, who was later identified as Joshua Jahn, age 29, was found dead, presumably from suicide. Victims of this shooting included three ICE detainees. Law enforcement in this facility remained uninjured according to the New York Times.
Joe Rothrock, an FBI special agent said in a statement the messages found in the bullet near the shooter were “anti-ICE in nature.” He also believes the motive was intended as “targeted violence.”
Officials did not find any evidence suggesting the attacker belonged to “any specific group or entity, nor did he mention any specific government agency other than ICE.”
The attack was thoroughly planned out. This included the shooter “scouting facilities and writing threats” according to a brief in Fox Four News KDFW.
However, the shots were fired “indiscriminately” at the office as well as at an ICE transportation van which the detainees were in.
United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Nancy Larson said the goal of the attack was to strike fear in ICE agents, to provoke “real terror of being gunned down.”
It appeared that Jahn didn’t intentionally try to kill or harm the detainees, since it seemed his targets were the ICE agency. Furthermore, a handwritten note from him suggested he “expressed his hatred for the federal government.”
Todd Lyons, an acting ICE Director expressed his thoughts regarding Wednesday’s attack as his “worst nightmare.”
“People always ask me what’s the thing that keeps me up at night. It’s the safety of the men and women of ICE," Lyons said in a statement. The shots were fired in the morning commute hours, Lyons also explained, which was surprising, but also made it easy for more people to have been harmed by it.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance released statements targeting the Democrats.
“This violence is the result of the Radical Left Democrats constantly demonizing Law Enforcement, calling for ICE to be demolished, and comparing ICE Officers to ‘Nazis,’” Trump expressed in a social media post.
"I AM CALLING ON ALL DEMOCRATS TO STOP THIS RHETORIC AGAINST ICE AND AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT, RIGHT NOW!" Trump additionally wrote.
Vance commented about the attack in North Carolina on Wednesday when he visited stating the attacker was a “violent left-wing extremist."
The shooting also drew White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to comment on it, saying, “Democrats must stop demonizing the heroic men and women of ICE who are just doing their jobs to keep Americans safe.”
On the Democratic side, Senator Chris Murphy responded to the backlash from Republicans. “Criticizing the way that ICE is rounding up people in this country in a deeply inhumane and immoral way is not an incitement to violence,” he said.
The issue with this event has been met with various commentary and appears to have opened some wounds in political tension between the Democratic and Republican parties.
