Dallas ICE facility shooting is among at least 4 attacks or threats on ICE or Border Patrol locations in Texas this year
Originally Published: 24 SEP 25 08:41 ET
Updated: 24 SEP 25 16:54 ET
By Chris Boyette, CNN
(CNN) — Wednesday’s fatal shooting at a Dallas ICE field office was at least the fourth instance of violence or a threat at an ICE or Customs and Border Protection facility in Texas this year.
One of those instances involved an August bomb threat at the same Dallas facility where Wednesday’s shooting happened, authorities have said.
One ICE detainee was killed in Wednesday’s shooting and two others were hospitalized in critical condition, the Department of Homeland Security said in an afternoon news release. Earlier, DHS said two ICE detainees were dead while another was seriously injured; the revision by the department was provided without additional explanation.
The shooter believed to be responsible was identified as Joshua Jahn, according to three sources familiar with the case.
Jahn was 29, one source briefed on the investigation told CNN.
Authorities have said the shooter was found dead at the scene. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X.
No motive was immediately announced in Wednesday’s attack. The FBI is investigating it “as an act of targeted violence,” and rounds found near the suspect contained messages that “are anti-ICE in nature,” according to Joe Rothrock, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Dallas field office. None of the people shot were members of law enforcement, he said.
No links between any of this year’s attacks or threats on Texas ICE or CBP facilities are known.
Here is a summary of the instances of violence or threats at these facilities this year before Wednesday:
A bomb threat in Dallas
At the Dallas ICE facility office on August 25, law enforcement arrested a man who authorities said claimed to have a bomb in his backpack, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The man arrived at the entrance of the facility that evening and showed a security officer a device on his wrist that he claimed was a detonator, DHS said.
A shelter-in-place order was given for the facility and local police responded with a bomb squad, which cleared the scene about 30 minutes later, DHS said.
The man was taken into custody by local law enforcement and charged with making terroristic threats, DHS said.
The facility houses ICE’s Dallas field office as well as enforcement and removal operations. It has three or four holding cells where detainees are usually processed before they are transferred to a detention center, according to a former senior ICE official.
More than 12 people charged in attack near Fort Worth
On July 4, a group mounted a coordinated attack on an immigration detention facility near Fort Worth, leaving a local police officer shot in the neck, authorities said.
According to charging documents, a group of roughly a dozen people dressed in all black began shooting fireworks toward the Prairieland Detention Facility late at night on July 4, with two in the group eventually breaking off to spray-paint cars and a guard post with slogans including “Ice Pig” and “F**k you pigs.”
A corrections officer called 911 and several other officers started to approach the group while one of its members began signaling to others with a flashlight, according to court documents.
As this unfolded, the documents say, a local police officer responding to the emergency call pulled up in the parking lot and, when he exited his car, was shot in the neck by someone lurking in the woods. The officer survived.
The person signaling to the others with their flashlight began shooting at the correctional officers from a line of trees across the street before fleeing. No one else was hit.
More than a dozen people have been charged in connection with the attack. During the investigation, police found flyers saying, “FIGHT ICE WITH CLASS TERROR” and “FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS” in the backpack of one of those arrested, authorities said.
A shootout in McAllen
On July 7, a 27-year-old man with a rifle and tactical gear was killed by police after he opened fire on a Border Patrol facility in McAllen, near the US-Mexico border, authorities said.
The man “opened fire at the entrance of the United States Border Patrol sector annex” and “Border Patrol agents and local police helped neutralize the shooter,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said.
Two officers, including one shot in the knee, and a Border Patrol employee were injured, the DHS spokesperson said. A federal investigation was launched and a motive was not immediately announced.
The administration of President Donald Trump pointed to the July 4 and July 7 attacks as being part of a broader trend of immigration enforcement personnel under siege and growing anger that officials say has been stoked by critics of Trump’s efforts to deport migrants who authorities allege are in the country illegally. The DHS in July warned of dramatic spikes in assaults on its officers, saying incidents had risen more than 800% when compared to the previous year.
That figure is now more than 1,000%, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons told CNN Wednesday.
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Leigh Waldman, Michael Williams, Taylor Romine and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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Update (11:50 AM): Texas Governor Greg Abbott released this statement about the shooting:
"The attack on the ICE facility in Dallas this morning was horrific. Our prayers are with the victims, their families, and all those affected by this brutal and inexcusable act of violence.
I have been in communication with federal officials and assured them, the State of Texas will provide all necessary resources to investigate this attempted assassination.
We will not let this cowardly attack impede our efforts to secure the border, enforce immigration law, and ensure law and order. The Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas National Guard will continue our work with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to arrest, detain, and deport any individuals in this country illegally — without interruption.
We are a nation defined by our value for peaceful discourse, and our respect for law and order. In other parts of the world, political violence grips countries after every change in leadership, strangling their nation, and putting lives at risk every day. America cannot and will not become a country prone to such violence. The ongoing onslaught of violent and subversive rhetoric from the Left threatens to degrade the most prized and basic values our nation was founded upon and must be denounced at every turn. I urge all Americans to unite and stand for the common values that make us the greatest nation in the history of the world."
Update (10:48 PM): FBI Director Kash Patel released photos of unspent shell casings recovered from the scene of the shooting in Dallas. Patel says the casings were engraved with the phrase "ANTI ICE."
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.
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) September 24, 2025
While the investigation is… pic.twitter.com/SMOyxiKLqA
ICE also released a statement addressing the shooting. Read the statement in full below:
"ICE and Dallas police have secured the scene at our Dallas field office, where a shooter opened fire on the facility this morning, firing indiscriminately at the building and those in the sallyport. We can confirm that three individuals were shot and two are deceased. The shooter is also deceased by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No ICE officers were physically injured, and we are working alongside the FBI and local law enforcement.
This isn’t the first time this location has been targeted; less than a month ago, a man walked in with what he claimed was a bomb. This violence must stop."ICE
UPDATE (7:49 MT): One victim died on the scene and two have been hospitalized.
Originally Published: 24 SEP 25 08:41 ET
Updated: 24 SEP 25 09:11 ET
By Priscilla Alvarez, Leigh Waldman, Chris Boyette, CNN
(CNN) — At least two detainees were shot at an US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas on Wednesday morning, according to two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the incident.
A suspect is dead from a self-inflicted gun shot wound, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X.
“Details are still emerging but we can confirm there were multiple injuries and fatalities,” Noem’s post read. The motive in the shooting is unknown, she said.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said on CNN earlier Wednesday three people were shot, all of whom were taken to a hospital. He did not specify who the three people were.
“Preliminary information is a possible sniper,” Lyons said.
ICE employees, civilians, and immigrant detainees are generally among those at the facility.
Wednesday’s shooting marked at least the third instance of an ICE or Customs and Border Protection facility being targeted by gunfire in Texas this year.
On July 4, a group of assailants targeted the Prairieland Detention Center, near Fort Worth, in what authorities described as a coordinated attack that left a local police officer shot in the neck. The officer survived, and more than a dozen people have been charged for their alleged roles in the attack.
Days later, a 27-year-old man with a rifle and tactical gear was killed by police after he opened fire on a Border Patrol facility in McAllen. Two officers and a Border Patrol employee were injured, and dozens of rounds were exchanged between the shooter and law enforcement.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN’s Michael Williams contributed to this report.
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