The gunman who opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas, Texas, left behind a collection of notes at his home saying he acted alone in an attack that was intended to terrorise ICE agents and minimise harm to detainees at the facility, officials say.
He was identified as Joshua Jahn, 29, a Dallas-area resident who previously attended a community college and had worked as a solar panel installer.
Nancy Larson, acting US attorney for the northern district of Texas, said at a news conference that the shooter’s writings were found during a search of his home in Fairview, Texas, following Wednesday’s pre-dawn shooting.
Ms Larson said the notes included a game plan of the attack targeting ICE employees and areas at the facility and an admission from the sniper that he was acting alone.
One dead in Dallas immigration centre shooting
“He wrote that he intended to maximise lethality against ICE personnel and to maximise property damage at the facility,” she said.
“He hoped to minimise any collateral damage or injury to the detainees and any other innocent people …
“It’s clear from these notes that he was targeting ICE agents and ICE personnel.”
Earlier in the day, FBI Director Kash Patel said the suspect had searched for apps in August that track the location of ICE agents and downloaded a list of local Department of Homeland Security facilities.
One immigration detainee at the Dallas site was shot dead and two others were critically wounded.
No federal personnel were injured in the incident.
Within hours of the shooting, the FBI released a photo of an unused bullet found inscribed with the phrase “ANTI-ICE,” an early piece of evidence, officials said, that the immigration enforcement agency was the target.
The perpetrator, who the FBI said had opened fire from the rooftop of a nearby building, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound afterwards, Ms Larson said.
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The investigation thus far, Mr Patel said on Thursday, “indicates a high degree of pre-attack planning”.
Mr Patel also outlined additional evidence reinforcing the theory that the attack appeared to have been aimed not at the detainees who were shot but at ICE, the primary enforcement agency of President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
According to Mr Patel, a handwritten note recovered from Mr Jahn’s home read: “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ‘Is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?'”
He did not provide photos or other documentation of the evidence.
Mr Patel also said the suspect had downloaded a document titled Dallas County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, containing a list of DHS facilities and, during a period of several days in August, the perpetrator had searched for apps that tracked the presence of ICE agents.
Authorities identified Joshua Jahn, pictured here in a mugshot from 2016, as the gunman who shot at an ICE facility in Texas. (Supplied: Collin County Sheriff’s Office)
One of the seriously injured victims is a Mexican citizen, according to Mexico’s foreign ministry.
The Dallas shooting came two weeks after Charlie Kirk, co-founder of the conservative political group Turning Point USA and a close ally of Trump, was shot dead by a rooftop sniper during a speaking event in Utah, fuelling fears of a new wave of violence in the United States.
Mr Trump and members of his administration immediately blamed left-wing activists for Wednesday’s attack, even though there has been no evidence released to suggest the suspect was linked to any outside groups or individuals.
“The radical left is causing the problem, they’re out of control,” Mr Trump said.
“They’re saying things and they’re really dumb people … and it’s going to get worse and, ultimately, it’s going to go back on them.
“I mean, bad things happen when they play these games …
“And I don’t want to see that happen either, I’m the president of all the people.”
In a joint statement, Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives condemned the attack and called for less divisiveness.
“The political and ideologically motivated violence in America has reached a breaking point this year,” they said. “We need leaders who bring the country together in moments of crisis — and that is what is required right now.”
The FBI says it has found notes from the gunman who shot at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas. (Reuters: Jeffrey McWhorter)
Political violence has risen in the United States in recent years, with high-profile attacks targeting figures on both the right and the left, including Mr Trump himself, who endured two assassination attempts during his 2024 presidential campaign.
The older brother of the suspect in the Dallas attack spoke with a Reuters reporter on Wednesday as Joshua Jahn’s name began circulating online in connection with the shooting.
Noah Jahn, 30, said he was not aware that his brother harboured any negative feelings about ICE.
“I didn’t know he had any political intent at all,” he said.
Reuters
