President Donald Trump on Thursday denounced the “radical left” and warned that violence “is going to get worse” following a fatal shooting at a Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.
Authorities identified the gunman as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn, who opened fire on an ICE van at the facility’s gated entrance on Wednesday. One detainee was killed and two others critically wounded. No ICE officers were injured.
FBI Director Kash Patel said Jahn left a note expressing his intent to instill “real terror” in ICE agents. Patel revealed the detail in a post on X, offering the first clear indication of the shooter’s motive.
The Dallas attack follows a series of high-profile incidents, including the recent assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. The shooting comes amid rising tensions over immigration enforcement, which has fueled both anti-ICE backlash and anxiety within immigrant communities.
In remarks during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump said:
“The radical left is causing the problem … It’s going to get worse and ultimately, it’s going to go back on them. Bad things happen when they play these games. I’ll give you a little clue: the right is a lot tougher than the left and the right is not doing this. And they better not get them energized because it won’t be good for the left.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson echoed the president’s stance in a statement to Newsweek, noting that Trump has already taken steps against left-wing extremism by designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.
On Truth Social, Trump condemned the shooting as “despicable,” highlighting that shell casings recovered at the scene were marked with “ANTI-ICE.” He directly blamed “Radical Left Democrats,” arguing that their rhetoric against law enforcement, and ICE in particular, was fueling violence. Trump pledged to use executive powers to dismantle domestic terror networks.
Investigation into Joshua Jahn
According to Patel, Jahn carried out the attack with “a high degree of pre-attack planning.” Searches of a Dallas-area residence uncovered electronic devices, handwritten notes, and other evidence.
One note reportedly read: “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?”—a reference to armor-piercing ammunition.
Investigators said Jahn had downloaded documents related to Homeland Security facilities and searched online for information on ballistics as well as video of Kirk’s assassination. He had also previously looked for apps that track ICE agents.
Hours after the attack, FBI agents swarmed a home in Fairview, Texas, linked to Jahn. Neighbors reported the property was quickly cordoned off as agents searched the yard.
Friends and acquaintances described Jahn as someone who did not appear politically engaged. A spokesperson for Collin College confirmed he attended classes there intermittently between 2013 and 2018. He later traveled to Washington state, where he worked briefly on a legal cannabis farm.
Farm owner Ryan Sanderson recalled: “He’s a young kid, a thousand miles from home, didn’t really seem to have any direction, living out of his car at such a young age.”
