FBI says the Dallas ICE sniper planned his deadly attack for months
Investigators believe the sniper who opened fire at a Dallas ICE field office Wednesday had planned his attack, which killed at least one detainee and critically injured two others.
Officials identified the shooter as Joshua Jahn, 29, from the Collin County city of Fairview. Jahn died from a self-inflicted gunshot on a nearby roof from where he fired “indiscriminately” at ICE agents and detainees, authorities said.
Jahn recently had been living in Durant, Oklahoma. FBI agents were seen at the North Texas home of Jahn’s parents on Wednesday afternoon.
FBI Director Kash Patel posted on social media Thursday morning that Jahn had downloaded a document titled “Dallas County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management” containing a list of DHS facilities.
He also searched online about ballistics and the video of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination two weeks ago. In August, Jahn looked for apps that track the presence of ICE agents. Patel also said that a handwritten note found by investigators said, “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ‘is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?”
Patel said evidence indicates “a high degree of pre-attack planning.”
Federal authorities released more information at a 1:30 p.m. press conference Thursday. Watch the video here:
Dallas police officers responded to the shooting around 6:30 a.m. at the ICE office at 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway near I-35E.
ICE officials released a statement saying that a sniper began “firing indiscriminately at the building, including at a transport van in the sallyport.” The victims were inside the van. An ICE official said earlier in the day that two of the victims had died, but in a corrected statement Wednesday afternoon the Department of Homeland Security said one detainee is dead.
No law enforcement officers were injured in the shooting. The identity of the victims hadn’t been released as of midday Thursday.
One injured victim is a Mexican citizen
The Mexican Consulate General in Dallas contacted Mexican authorities, who confirmed that one of the seriously injured victims is a Mexican national, according to a news release. That victim is currently hospitalized and receiving medical care.
“Consular officials have contacted the victim’s family to provide support and legal assistance,” the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “The consulate is in ongoing communication with the authorities in charge of the investigation and is waiting for authorization to visit the hospitalized Mexican citizen. The North America Unit Chief has conveyed concern through diplomatic channels and requested a full investigation into the event and unrestricted access to the injured Mexican citizen.”
Feds say ‘anti-ICE’ message found, shooting ‘motivated by hatred’
FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Joe Rothrock said that investigators found messages on at least one bullet casing near the shooter’s body that were “anti-ICE in nature.”
At a press conference, Rothrock said the FBI, Dallas police and ICE are investigating the shooting as “an act of targeted violence.”
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem called the shooting “a vile attack” and said it was “motivated by hatred for ICE.”
“Our prayers are with the families of those killed and our ICE law enforcement.” Noem said in the DHS news release. “... For months, we’ve been warning politicians and the media to tone down their rhetoric about ICE law enforcement before someone was killed. This shooting must serve as a wake-up call to the far-left that their rhetoric about ICE has consequences.”
Joshua Jahn’s older brother, Noah Jahn, told NBC News that Joshua wasn’t particularly interested in politics and “he didn’t have strong feelings about ICE as far as I knew.”
What we know about Joshua Jahn
Public records show Joshua Jahn was registered in Oklahoma to vote as an independent, and he was charged in Texas in 2016 with delivering an amount of marijuana that was more than ¼ ounce but less than 5 pounds.
Joshua knew how to use a rifle, but “he’s not a marksman, that’s for sure,” Noah told NBC before authorities publicly identified his brother as the shooter. “He would not be able to make any shots like that.”
The brothers grew up in Allen, Texas. Joshua used to do coding work but recently has been unemployed, Noah told NBC.
Two friends of Jahn’s told ABC News that his interests in high school were mainly internet culture and video games. “When people would start talking about politics, he was the first one to say, ‘Guys, shut up, can we just play Halo or something?’” one friend said.
The sniper was found dead on the roof of a nearby immigration attorney’s office. About 12:40 p.m., Star-Telegram journalists saw two medical examiner’s office transport workers rolling a stretcher with the shooter’s body in a black bag from the office building into a van.
The law office building on which the shooter was perched is three stories. Crime scene officers were there Wednesday afternoon examining the scene and taking photographs.
The shots were fired outside the building while the detainees were inside the unmarked van.
One victim died at the scene, and two were taken to a hospital, Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV reported.
Texas and national leaders denounce political violence
Speakers at Wednesday’s press conference in Dallas referenced previous acts of violence against ICE facilities, including a shooting that wounded an Alvarado police officer outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Johnson County on July 4. Seventeen defendants charged in that case, which authorities have called an ambush on ICE and law enforcement, were arraigned in federal court in Fort Worth this week.
“This is the second time I’ve had to stand before you and talk about a shooter at one of my facilities,” ICE Dallas acting Field Office Director Joshua Johnson said at the press conference in Dallas.
The Department of Homeland Security said there also was a bomb threat against the Dallas ICE Field Office last month. Bratton Dean Wilkinson, 36, arrived at the facility’s reporting entrance on the evening of Aug. 25 and falsely claimed to have a bomb in his backpack, authorities said.
Wilkinson showed the security officer what he said was a “detonator” on his wrist, according to a news release. The officer called 911 and Dallas police responded with a bomb squad. Wilkinson was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats.
Noem said in the statement, “Comparing ICE day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences. The men and women of ICE are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer. Like everyone else, we just want to go home to our families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop. We are praying for the victims and their families.”
What is the Dallas ICE facility that was targeted?
The Dallas ICE Field Office along I-35E, near Dallas Love Field airport, is for agents who cover North Texas and Oklahoma.
According to the New York Times, the facility is used to process detainees after they have been arrested and before they are transported to a long-term detention facility. Since President Donald Trump took office in January, over 8,400 people have passed through the facility.
Weekly morning prayer vigils are a common occurrence at the facility, which also has been the site of protests.
A woman who was dropping off her mother for an immigration appointment Wednesday morning, Denisis Robleto, shared a video with WFAA-TV in which several gunshots can be heard as she and her mom hide in their car in the ICE facility’s parking lot.
Fernando Dubove, a Dallas-based immigration attorney, told NBC 5 that people who are picked up by ICE and who have asylum deportation orders to Mexico leave from the facility.
Detainees being sent to Mexico are placed on a bus that leaves from the facility to Laredo every morning. This is something Dubove suspects the gunmen knew and would have had a clear shot for when the transfer occurred from facility to bus, according to NBC 5.
‘Despicable, politically motivated attacks’
In a post on X, FBI Director Patel wrote, “These despicable, politically motivated attacks against law enforcement are not a one-off. We are only miles from Prarieland, Texas, where just two months ago an individual ambushed a separate ICE facility targeting their officers. It has to end and the FBI and our partners will lead these investigative efforts to see to it that those who target our law enforcement are pursued and brought to the fullest extent of justice. Thankfully, no law enforcement personnel were injured. Please pray for the injured and deceased.”
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said this is the third shooting in Texas “directed at ICE” or Customs and Border Protection agents. Cruz denounced “politically motivated violence” and called on politicians “using rhetoric demonizing ICE or CBP” to stop.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson also spoke at the news conference.
In a statement, he said, “Violence like this morning’s shooting at the Dallas ICE facility should never happen. This is not just an attack on law enforcement and the victims, but — like other similar attacks — it is an attack on our community and on our nation’s heritage of civil and democratic discourse.”
“This should not be a partisan issue,” Johnson said. “We should all condemn violence intended to serve a political agenda and work together to end it. And during these times of great division, we must work that much harder, speak that much clearer, and listen that much more earnestly. Our communities, our city, and our country are built on shared values. Now, more than ever, we must remember those shared values and the fact that we have more in common than what divides us.”
Noem first posted about the shooting on X shortly after 7:45 a.m. and requested prayer for the victims and their families.
Police initially described it as an active shooter situation involving a sniper.
“While we don’t know motive yet, we know that our ICE law enforcement is facing unprecedented violence against them,” Noem said in her initial post Wednesday morning. “It must stop.”
There was a heavy police presence at the shooting scene, and parts of Interstate 35E were closed Wednesday morning as law enforcement responded, the Texas Department of Transportation said.
This story was originally published September 24, 2025 at 6:37 AM with the headline "FBI says the Dallas ICE sniper planned his deadly attack for months."
