Texas ICE shooting: Alleged gunman identified

DALLAS — Police in Dallas, Texas, responded to reports of an active shooter at an ICE facility on Wednesday morning.

Police responded to shots fired at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Dallas before 7 a.m. local time, WFAA reported.

KXAS said the facility was an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations location.

Alleged gunman identified

Update 2:16 p.m. ET, Sept. 24: Several media outlets have identified the alleged gunman as Joshua Jahn, 29.

NBC News cited “multiple senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation.” Fox News cited “sources familiar with the investigation.”

Jahn’s parents live in Fairview, Texas, and police there are assisting in the investigation, according to Dallas police, KDFW reported.

Jahn may have been living in Oklahoma, with Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux telling KDFW, “That’s what we are looking into.”

Jahn’s brother told NBC News that he did not share opinions with family opposing ICE.

“He didn’t have strong feelings about ICE as far as I knew,” Noah Jahn told the news outlet before his brother was identified as the shooter. He did call his brother “unique” but did not explain.

“I didn’t think he was politically interested,” Noah Jahn told NBC News. “He wasn’t interested in politics on either side as far as I knew.”

He was registered as independent and last voted in the November 2024 election, NBC reported.

Critical condition

Update 1:43 p.m. ET, Sept. 24: The third detainee was in critical condition, CNN reported.

Officials said he “fired indiscriminately,” according to a release from the Dallas field office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, The Washington Post reported.

Two killed

Update 12:54 p.m. ET, Sept. 24: Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that two detainees were killed in Wednesday’s shooting, CNN reported.

Kash Patel shares images of rounds

Update 11:39 a.m. ET, Sept. 24: FBI Director Kash Patel shared images on X of the bullets that he said were found near the alleged gunman.

He said that they indicate “an ideological motive behind this attack.”

News briefing

Update 11:20 a.m. ET, Sept. 24: Law enforcement officials and the mayor of Dallas are holding a news briefing.

Mayor Eric Johnson has asked for prayers for not only the city, but also the country.

He called it a “scary time,” and said it is “challenging to explain to them [his children] what is going on in the country right now.”

Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux said police got the call at 6:40 a.m. about the shooting. He said there were four individuals shot, including the shooter and that two were dead, including the shooter.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Joe Rothrock said it is being investigated as an “act of targeted violence.” He said that there were messages on rounds found near the shooter that had messages that were “anti-ICE in nature.”

Specifics on what was written on the rounds was not provided, CNN reported.

No identities of the victims were released, but Rothrock confirmed that no members of law enforcement were hurt.

Sen. Ted Cruz, (R) Texas, said of political violence, “This must stop.” He said that “We need to work without demonizing each other, without attacking each other,” adding that “the divisive rhetoric, tragically, has real consequences.”

Rothrock said it is still in the early phases of the investigation and when there is more information, they will release it. He stressed that there were no law enforcement members injured but would not confirm that those injured were detainees. Cruz also would not confirm that those injured were detainees.

No ICE officers hurt

Update 11:12 a.m. ET, Sept. 24: The Washington Post reported that no ICE officers were hurt in the shooting, according to ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan.

But Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News, “We believe he was shooting at law enforcement and detainees from an apartment building. Detainees were among the victims of the shooting,” The Associated Press reported.

Gov. Abbott calls shooting ‘assassination’

Update 11:07 a.m. ET, Sept. 24: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott responded to the shooting on X, writing, “This assassination will NOT slow our arrest, detention, & deportation of illegal immigrants.

“We will work with ICE & the Dallas Police Dept. to get to the bottom of the assassin’s motive.”

Facility information

Update 11:05 a.m. ET, Sept. 24: Here is what we know about the ICE facility in Texas.

The Deportation Data Project from researchers connected to the UC Berkeley School of Law compiled “government data provided by ICE in response to a FOIA request“ and reviewed by CNN, said the facility:

• Has had more than 8,000 people detained in the first six months of President Donald Trump’s administration.
• Held detainees for less than a day before being transferred to other facilities.
• Held people there for 14 hours on average.
• Had as many as 155 detainees at the same time, but typically had a few dozen.

The Washington Post said the facility is about two miles from Dallas Love Field airport and five miles from downtown Dallas. It is surrounded by commercial buildings, law offices and an apartment complex.

Elevated position

Update 10:58 a.m. ET, Sept. 24: An official with the Department of Homeland Security said the alleged shooter fired from an elevated position, CNN reported.

A previously released audio clip from the Dallas Police Department said that police were responding to a call of a “sniper on top of the roof.”

Images from the scene

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Two detainees among victims

Update 9:59 a.m. ET, Sept. 24: CNN reported that at least two detainees were among the victims.

The FBI has also joined the investigation into Wednesday’s shooting, the agency said on X.

The Department of Homeland Security said that the same facility targeted today was also at the center of another incident last month.

Bratton Dean Wilkinson arrived at the same building on Aug. 25, and “claimed to have a bomb in his backpack,” CNN reported.

Wilkinson was later arrested.

The facility has three or four holding cells for detainees to be kept as they are processed before being taken to a detention center, a former ICE official told CNN. It can hold up to about 100 but only has a couple of dozen at a time, the former official said.

No motive into Wednesday’s shooting has been disclosed.

Two people taken to hospital, one person dead

Update 9:35 a.m. ET, Sept. 24: The Dallas Police Department said on X that two people were transported to an area hospital with gunshot wounds and that one person died at the scene. They also confirmed that the alleged gunman is dead.

The police said the alleged gunman fired on the facility from an adjacent building.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said agents with the Dallas ATF office are on scene to help the investigation, which is currently being led by the Dallas Police Department.

Original report: At least three people were reportedly wounded. KDFW reported that some of those wounded are in critical condition.

The Associated Press reported that three people were shot.

They said one person was found shot on the roof of a nearby office, WFAA reported. KDFW said it was the alleged gunman who died of a self-inflicted gunshot as law enforcement approached.

Todd Lyons, Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the scene is secure, but the building is on lockdown during a live on CNN.

Lyons could not say if the people wounded were ICE employees or civilians. He also could not confirm their conditions, but did say that at least three people were shot, CNN reported.

The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted to X, writing there were “multiple injuries and fatalities” in the shooting.

Check back for more on this developing story.

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