A gunman armed with a rifle opened fire on a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dallas on Wednesday, killing one detainee and critically wounding two others before taking his own life, authorities said.
Officials reported that the shooter left behind ammunition marked with the phrase “ANTI-ICE” written in blue. The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of targeted violence. Acting ICE director Todd Lyons confirmed that the suspect identified was a man named Joshua Jahn.
The shooting comes at a time when ICE has emerged as the sword arm of US President Donald Trump’s attempts to deport not only undocumented immigrants but also legal migrants seen as critical of his administration’s priorities – including for opposing Israel’s war on Gaza.
The attack on the ICE facility also comes two weeks after the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, an event that led Trump to vow action against what he called left-wing extremists.
Here is what you need to know:
What happened and when?
Police said they got a call about a shooting about 6:40am local time (11:40 GMT) on Wednesday, September 24.
Four people were shot. One detainee died, and two others were taken to hospital in critical condition.
The gunman – authorities described him as a “sniper” – died from a self-inflicted gunshot. Officials said he fired indiscriminately at the ICE building from a nearby rooftop. The victims were either inside a van near the entrance to the building or nearby.
Authorities “found bullets throughout the entire building that had punctured into the facility”, ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan said.
No police officers were hurt, according to FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Joe Rothrock.
The exact motivation for the attack was not immediately known. Still, FBI director Kash Patel described the attack as “politically motivated”.
“These despicable, politically motivated attacks against law enforcement are not a one-off,” Patel said in a social media post.
“We are only miles from Prairieland, Texas where just two months ago an individual ambushed a separate ICE facility targeting their officers.” On July 4, ICE said nearly a dozen individuals armed with tactical gear and weapons attacked its Prairieland facility, injuring an officer, who survived.
This morning just before 7am local time, an individual fired multiple rounds at a Dallas, Texas ICE facility, killing one, wounding several others, before taking his own life. FBI, DHS, ATF are on the ground with Dallas PD and state authorities.
While the investigation is… pic.twitter.com/SMOyxiKLqA
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) September 24, 2025
What is ICE?
ICE, or US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is a federal agency under the Department of Homeland Security that enforces immigration laws – including arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants – and investigates crimes such as human trafficking, drug smuggling and financial fraud.
In recent years, the agency has frequently clashed with protesters, particularly over detention conditions and deportation policies.
“The Department of Homeland Security reports assaults against its officers have risen eightfold since Trump began his mass deportations,” Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro reported from Washington.
Trump has made immigration enforcement a centrepiece of his presidency, with large-scale deportations and high-profile crackdowns.
“Now, the agency is deploying more security to its offices – while leaders warn that the US is headed in a dangerous direction if the political violence continues,” she added.
Pray for the victims of the Dallas Field Office Attack.
Like everyone else, our ICE law enforcement officers just want to go home to their families at night. They are fathers and mothers. Sons, and daughters, brothers and sisters.
They get up every morning to try and make our… pic.twitter.com/EIk8yrq4J3
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) September 24, 2025
Where did the shooting happen?
The shooting took place at ICE’s field office in Dallas, which covers Texas and all of Oklahoma.
The ICE facility sits along Interstate 35 East, just southwest of Dallas Love Field, a major airport for the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and only a few blocks from hotels that serve travellers.
This is not the first attack on the facility.
Last month, 36-year-old US citizen Bratton Dean Wilkinson was arrested after arriving at the facility and claiming he had a bomb in his backpack, showing officers what he said was a detonator on his wrist.
What do we know about the suspect?
Lyons, the acting director of ICE, confirmed to Fox News that officials had identified the suspected attacker as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn.
Jahn had lived in a Dallas suburb, according to public records. According to authorities, the gunman killed himself after opening fire, and his body was found near the ICE facility he had fired at.
Court records show Jahn was arrested in 2015 for delivering marijuana to buyers. In 2016, he admitted to delivering between a quarter-ounce (7g) and five pounds (2.3kg). He was given five years of probation and a $500 fine.
Under Texas law, the charge is considered a “state jail felony”, which is the lowest level of felony offence in the state.
As Jahn’s name began circulating online, his older brother, Noah Jahn, spoke with a Reuters reporter. Noah, 30, who lives in McKinney, Texas – about 48km (30 miles) north of Dallas – said he was unaware of his brother having any negative feelings towards ICE.
“I didn’t know he had any political intent at all,” Noah said.
“He’s a young kid, a thousand miles from home, didn’t really seem to have any direction, living out of his car at such a young age,” Ryan Sanderson, who met him in 2017, told The Associated Press news agency.
“I don’t remember him being that abnormal. He didn’t seem to fight with anyone or cause trouble. He kept his head down and stayed working.”
What do we know about the victims?
Authorities have not released the identities of the victims. They said the three detainees who were shot were in the country without proper documentation and had been taken into custody and were awaiting transfer to a longer-term facility.
According to Mexico’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, one of the injured detainees is a Mexican national. The ministry said the individual is hospitalised with serious injuries, and that the Mexican consulate has contacted the family to provide support and legal assistance.
What have been the reactions?
In a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, President Trump said he had been briefed on the Dallas shooting. He described the attacker as “deranged”, referred to the “Anti-ICE” message allegedly found on the shell casings and called that “despicable”.
Trump did not mention the victims, but instead urged, “CALLING ON ALL DEMOCRATS TO STOP THIS RHETORIC AGAINST ICE AND AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT, RIGHT NOW!”
“I have been briefed on the deadly shooting at the ICE Field Office in Dallas, Texas. It has now been revealed the deranged shooter wrote “Anti-ICE” on his shell casings… I AM CALLING ON ALL DEMOCRATS TO STOP THIS RHETORIC AGAINST ICE & AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT.” – @POTUS pic.twitter.com/VdC0y9biYA
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 24, 2025
Vice President JD Vance, without offering evidence, said the attack was politically motivated.
At an event in North Carolina, he said that California Governor Gavin Newsom and others didn’t need to support the Trump administration’s immigration policies, but “if your political rhetoric incites violence against law enforcement, you can go straight to hell”.
Newsom quickly responded.
“No thanks, JD. I will not be going ‘straight to hell’ today,” Newsom said. “Though when I watch you speak I certainly feel like I’m already there.”
No thanks, JD. I will not be going “straight to hell” today.
Though when I watch you speak I certainly feel like I’m already there. https://t.co/vZ5Z5bZefN
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 24, 2025
Texas Senator Ted Cruz appealed for calm.
“This has very real consequences,” Cruz said.
“Look, in America, we disagree. That’s fine. That’s the democratic process, but your political opponents are not Nazis. We need to learn to work together without demonising each other, without attacking each other,” he added.
The post Who is Joshua Jahn? What we know about the Dallas ICE facility shooting appeared first on Al Jazeera.
