What to know about the Dallas ICE Shooting

Rene Chang [10/01/2025]

On September 24th, a sniper, identified as Joshua Jahn, opened fire from a nearby rooftop on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Dallas field office. The shooter fired indiscriminately at the ICE building, including at a van in the sallyport where the victims were shot. Three detainees were shot. One detainee is deceased, and the other two were in critical condition. Then, 6 days later, on September 30th, the second detainee passed away. The gunman was found dead with a self-inflicted gun wound.

The victims were identified as Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, who also died soon after the attack, and Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, 32, who was reported by his attorneys and family to have died defending another detainee from the bullets, though this specific detail has not been confirmed by federal investigators. His wife was reportedly expecting their fifth child. Jose Andres Bornones-Molina, the third victim, was taken to another facility after recovering in the hospital.

According to Fox 4 News, “Investigators have evidence showing the gunman was targeting ICE agents. The words “ANTI-ICE” were found engraved on a bullet, and handwritten notes expressing his desire to ambush and terrorize ICE agents were recovered as evidence. However, the victims were not ICE agents. Instead, he struck detainees who were arriving in a transport van outside the facility. According to R. Joseph Rothrock, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Dallas office, the shooter had been preparing his attack for months and had legally purchased an 8mm bolt-action rifle last year.

At the press briefing, ICE agent Marcos Charles stated that the victims were confined in a van and unable to escape when the shooting began.

The shooter, identified by authorities as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn of Fairview, wrote that he hated the federal government and wanted to terrorize ICE agents, whom he called “human traffickers,” according to Nancy Larson, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, who made the statement on September 25.

Larson described the gunman’s acts as the “very definition of terrorism,” highlighting his notes that demonstrated his desire for ICE officials to experience the “real terror of being gunned down.”

President Donald Trump posted on social media, replying to the tragedy, he directly attributed the violence to the rhetoric of his political opponents, writing that the shooting was the result of the “Radical Left Democrats constantly demonizing Law Enforcement, calling for ICE to be demolished, and comparing ICE Officers to ‘Nazis.'” In the post, President Donald Trump said he’d been briefed on the shooting and that “the deranged shooter wrote ‘Anti-ICE’ on his shell casings. This is despicable!” Trump also issued a call to action to his political opponents, stating: “I AM CALLING ON ALL DEMOCRATS TO STOP THIS RHETORIC AGAINST ICE AND AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT, RIGHT NOW!”

As a result of the Trump administration’s emphasis on immigration, non-immigration federal law enforcement officers have been assigned to assist ICE in the arrest, detention, and deportation of thousands of undocumented immigrants and even some of whom have valid immigration permits. U.S. citizens have also been occasionally been detained by ICE.

The administration has frequently claimed that law enforcement is focusing on the “worst of the worst” and praised the arrests of persons convicted of severe crimes, including sexual assault. However, the majority of people targeted by ICE have no criminal history, according to government data.

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