The FBI is searching for a 12th person the agency says was involved in the ambush of law enforcement officers at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, last week.
Benjamin Hanil Song, a former United States Marine Corps reservist, has been charged in connection with his role in the shooting of an Alvarado police officer at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday.
Song is accused of joining 10 others in an organized attack against officers at the Prairieland Detention Center just after 10:30 p.m., on July 4. Officials say he should be considered armed and dangerous.
Song has been charged with three counts of attempted murder of federal agents and three counts of discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.
A group of individuals dressed in black, military style clothing began shooting fireworks toward the detention center, then spraying graffiti on vehicles and a guard structure in the parking lot at the facility, according to officials.
“Correctional officers called 911 to report suspicious activity. An Alvarado police officer responded to the scene and, upon exiting his vehicle, the officer was shot in the neck by a defendant positioned in nearby woods. Another alleged assailant across the street fired 20 to 30 rounds at unarmed correctional officers who had stepped outside the facility,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Thursday.
The injured officer was treated and released following the shooting.
Song allegedly purchased four of the guns that were found in connection with the shooting, including two AR-style rifles found at the scene, according to officials.
“One of the abandoned rifles at the scene had a binary trigger, used to ‘double’ a regular rate of fire, allowing a shooter to fire more rapidly than a standard semiautomatic gun,” the sheriff’s office said.
Ten assailants who were charged in a criminal complaint on Monday fled from the detention center, but were apprehended by additional responding officers.
Song was not found, but cellphone location data indicated his phone was within several hundred meters of the Prairieland Detention Center the day of the ambush until the next morning, according to the sheriff’s office.
An 11th suspect, Daniel Rolando-Sanchez Estrada, is the husband of one of the attackers, and was arrested on charges of conspiracy to tamper with evidence while attempting to execute a search warrant, according to ICE’s account on X. He allegedly had “insurrectionist propaganda” at his home titled “Organizing for Attack! Insurrectionary Anarchy,” ICE said.
On July 6, a vehicle registered to Song was found on the same block of another suspect’s residence.
The 10 others charged in Monday’s complaint include Cameron Arnold, Savanna Batten, Nathan Baumann, Zachary Evetts, Joy Gibson, Bradford Morris, Maricela Rueda, Seth Sikes, Elizabeth Soto and Ines Soto.
If convicted, Song faces up to life in prison.
“We are committed to apprehending Song and are offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction. If you have any information, please call 1-800-CALL-FBI or you can submit a digital tip to fbi.govprairieland,” FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock, said in a statement Thursday.
A blue alert — which are issued for at-large suspects when a police officer has been seriously injured or killed — was also issued late Wednesday for Song by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
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