What we know so far about the deadly Dallas ICE facility shooting

One person was killed and two others were critically injured after a gunman opened fire Wednesday on a Dallas facility run by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, authorities said.

All three shot were detainees, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed in a statement hours after the attack. The suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No members of law enforcement were injured in the attack.

The department issued a correction that revised an earlier statement that two detainees were killed and one wounded.

In a news conference Wednesday morning, Joe Rothrock, special agent in charge for the FBI’s Dallas field office, described the shooting as an “act of targeted violence.”

Early evidence included bullet casings recovered nearby the suspected shooter that contained “messages that were anti-ICE in nature,” he added.

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson thanked the Dallas Police Department for its quick response to the shooting and urged people to “exercise a little bit of restraint” as authorities continued their investigation.

“Let’s be patient, let’s remain calm and let’s let our law enforcement partners, our police department do their job,” he said, adding there were “lots of unanswered questions” in the active investigation.

Here’s the latest on what we know.

Where and when did the Dallas shooting happen?

Law enforcement personnel respond to a shooting Wednesday at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas. Photo by Jeffrey McWhorter/Reuters

The Dallas Police Department responded to a call to assist an officer at the facility at about 6:40 a.m. local time, according to a social media post.

The preliminary investigation showed that a person had opened fire “from an adjacent building,” the post said. DHS later said a sniper “fired indiscriminately” from a nearby rooftop toward the ICE building, including at a van in a secured entryway where the victims were shot.

It is not yet clear if the suspect had an intended target.

One of the detainees critically injured in the shooting is a Mexican national, Mexico’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Live news footage of the scene showed a phalanx of emergency vehicles around the facility, which sits alongside Interstate 35 East and is surrounded by restaurants and hotels.

“Any act of violence is totally unacceptable, whoever you are,” said Rene Martinez, president of a local council of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the oldest Latino civil rights organization in the United States.

Martinez’s chapter, Council 100, is one of the oldest and largest councils in Texas. Over the past year, he’s been helping asylum seeker families in the area navigate the ramp-up of immigration enforcement.

Fear and anxiety is prevalent in the community, Martinez said, as raids and deportations continue apace. Martinez said he’s been in touch with local police.

“Right now I’m feeling for the families that have been affected in such a tragic way due to the climate that we’re living in,” he said.

What do we know about the suspect?

Authorities didn’t provide details about the suspect in Wednesday morning’s briefing and law enforcement is still working to isolate a motive for the shooting.

FBI Director Kash Patel posted a photo on X that he said were the unused bullet casings recovered at the scene. “ANTI-ICE” can be seen in blue writing on one of the casings in the photo.

One of the unspent shell casings recovered by authorities following the shooting in Dallas. One of the casings has “ANTI ICE” in blue writing on it. FBI Director Kash Patel posted the photo on X. Image provided by Reuters

“While the investigation is ongoing, an initial review of the evidence shows an idealogical [sic] motive behind this attack,” wrote Patel, who previously faced criticism for how he provided updates to the ongoing investigation into the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.

Authorities did not provide additional details about the weapon used in the attack.

With no motive yet determined, officials claim attack was fueled by hatred of ICE

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a news conference at the scene of a shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas. Photo by Jeffrey McWhorter/Reuters

Before Wednesday’s briefing on the shooting, Noem took to social media to acknowledge that details were still emerging, adding “we know that our ICE law enforcement is facing unprecedented violence against them.”

Noem claimed in a later statement without providing evidence that this “vile attack was motivated by hatred for ICE.”

The shooting in Dallas, she added, ought to be a “wake-up call to the far-left that their rhetoric about ICE has consequences.”

Vice President JD Vance echoed the homeland security secretary’s sentiments.

“The obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop,” Vance wrote on X. “I’m praying for everyone hurt in this attack and for their families.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also called for a stop to rhetoric “demonizing ICE” and other immigration enforcement agencies.

“Violence is wrong,” the senator said. “Politically motivated violence is wrong.”

“We should not be putting language out there that inspires madmen,” he added.

Ten people are facing attempted murder charges for a Fourth of July attack at an immigration detention center in Alvarado, Texas, that wounded one officer. The U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Texas called it an “organized attack.”

There’s not much information in terms of who the shooter was and any affiliations that they had, Martinez said, “and we have to be very careful.”

“We need to hold politicians accountable for their rhetoric,” or playing the “blame game,” he added.