DALLAS (AP) — A shooter with a rifle opened fire from a nearby roof onto a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement location in Dallas on Wednesday, killing two detainees and wounding another before taking his own life, authorities said.
The exact motivation of the attack was not immediately known. The FBI said at a morning news conference that ammunition found at the scene contained anti-ICE messaging. The head of the agency, Kash Patel, released a photo on social media that shows a bullet containing the words “ANTI-ICE” written in what appears to be marker.
“The shooter fired indiscriminately at the ICE building, including at a van in the sallyport where the victims were shot,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a release.
The detainee who survived was in critical condition at a hospital, DHS said.
Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News that no ICE agents were injured.
“We believe he was shooting at law enforcement and detainees from an apartment building,” McLaughlin said. “Detainees were among the victims of the shooting.”
The FBI said during the news conference that it was investigating the shooting as “an act of targeted violence.”
The attack is the latest public, targeted killing in the U.S. and comes two weeks after conservative leader Charlie Kirk was killed by a rifle-wielding shooter on a roof.
Officers responded to a call to assist an officer on North Stemmons Freeway around 6:40 a.m. Wednesday and determined that someone opened fire at a government building from an adjacent building, Dallas police spokesperson Officer Jonathen E. Maner said in an email.
Edwin Cardona, an immigrant from Venezuela, said he was entering the ICE building with his son for an appointment at around 6:20 a.m. when he heard gunshots.
An agent gathered people who were inside the building, took them to a more secure area and explained that there was an active shooter in the area, Cardona said.
“I was afraid for my family because my family was outside. I felt terrible because I thought something could happen to them. Thank God no,” Cardona said.
Cardona said his family was brought into the building, and they were later reunited.
The ICE facility is along Interstate 35 East, just southwest of Dallas Love Field, a large commercial airport serving the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, and blocks from hotels catering to airport travelers.
Traffic cameras near the scene showed six lanes of a normally busy freeway empty, with cars and semitrailers ground to a halt on an interstate exit. Dozens of emergency vehicles were seen near the facility.
Shortly after the shooting and before officials said at least one of the victims was a detainee, Vice President JD Vance posted on the social platform X that “the obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop.”
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz from Texas continued in that direction, calling for an end to politically motivated violence.
“To every politician who is using rhetoric demonizing ICE and demonizing CPB: stop,” Cruz told reporters, referencing Customs and Border Protection.
But immediately after the news conference in which officials refused to say whether the victims included detainees, Democratic U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey called in to Dallas’ WFAA-TV newscast and told them he was “absolutely sickened” by some officials’ comments.
“If they are trying to control this narrative and they don’t want migrants to be the victim in this story, then they may want to slow-walk giving us any information about this so they can still keep on talking about attacks on ICE,” Veasey said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said details were still emerging, but the agency was confirming there were “multiple injuries and fatalities” at the field office. Noem said the motive remained unclear, but noted there has been an uptick in targeting of ICE agents.
A July 4 attack at a Texas immigration detention center injured a police officer, who was shot in the neck. Attackers dressed in black military-style clothing opened fire outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, southwest of Dallas, federal prosecutors said. At least 11 people have been charged in connection with the attack.
A man with an assault rifle fired dozens of rounds at federal agents as they were leaving a U.S. Border Patrol facility in McAllen on July 7. The man, identified as Ryan Louis Mosqueda, injured a police officer who responded to the scene before authorities shot and killed him. Police later found other weaponry, ammunition and backpacks inside his car.
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Associated Press reporters Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; and Jeff Martin and R.J. Rico in Atlanta, contributed to this story.