A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Coming up, we hear from former assistant secretary of Homeland Security Juliette Kayyem about what's fact and what's rhetoric following the shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Dallas, Texas.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
First, at least one immigration detainee is dead and two are in critical condition after that shooting. It is at least the third instance of gun violence in immigration facilities in Texas this year. Different incidents, different backstories, but ICE is in the news as the Trump administration tries for a mass deportation.
MARTÍNEZ: With us now is Toluwani Osibamowo of member station KERA in Dallas. So we mentioned some details about the shooting, but how far have authorities gotten in their investigation so far?
TOLUWANI OSIBAMOWO, BYLINE: Yeah, well, yesterday was a pretty chaotic and tragic day in one of the busiest immigration facilities in north Texas. And we still have a lot of questions today. Aside from the victims, the suspect is also dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Dallas police said the person shot at the ICE office from a nearby building. The FBI says they're investigating the shooting as a, quote, "act of targeted violence." Joe Rothrock with the Dallas FBI office says local and federal authorities will be participating in the investigation.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOE ROTHROCK: There will be no resource not utilized to bring all those individuals who are responsible, to bring them to justice and to hold them accountable.
OSIBAMOWO: FBI Director Kash Patel called this a despicable, politically motivated attack on law enforcement. Authorities haven't indicated any specific motive. But they did release a picture of five unspent bullet casings found at the scene, and one had the words anti-ICE.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, now, we've also seen a name and a picture floating around about the shooter. Anything confirmed on that? Tell us now what we do know about that shooter.
OSIBAMOWO: Well, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons identified the shooter to CBS News as Joshua Jahn. NPR found that Jahn most recently lived in Fairview, which is a suburb about 30 miles north of Dallas. And police had swarmed his home there yesterday afternoon. And one of his neighbors, Sherry Davis, said it was a very small, tight-knit community, but she didn't know much about Jahn.
SHERRY DAVIS: I would've never imagined that such a thing, you know, someone that felt so disenfranchised would live so close to me.
OSIBAMOWO: Collin County court records don't show that Jahn has a history of any violent crimes. However, he was arrested and pleaded guilty to marijuana charges in 2016. Authorities haven't released the identities of the victims. One of them, who's in the hospital, is a Mexican national. That's according to the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. Now, as we mentioned earlier, I mean, this is just the most recent attack on an immigration facility in Texas. What can you tell us about the other incidents that have led up to this moment?
OSIBAMOWO: Well, on July Fourth, a gunman shot at a local police officer during a protest outside an ICE facility in Alvarado. That's about 30 miles south of Fort Worth. Seventeen people have been arrested. And then three days after that shooting, a man opened fire at a Customs and Border Protection facility in McAllen, a border city along the Rio Grande. He was killed by law enforcement. And then in late August, the Dallas ICE office that was the site of yesterday's shooting got a bomb threat where a man at the entrance of the building claimed to have an explosive in his bag. Immigration and immigrants have been at the center of the political divide, often portrayed in a negative light. And yesterday, some immigrants became victims of this political rhetoric.
MARTÍNEZ: Toluwani Osibamowo is a reporter with KERA in Dallas. Thank you very much.
OSIBAMOWO: Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
