The mass shooting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas is now being described by federal officials as terrorism after initially being labeled by authorities as “targeted violence.”
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Nancy Larson, announced on Thursday that the suspected gunman, a deceased 29-year-old named Joshua Jahn, had hoped his attack would unleash “terror” on ICE personnel, not just during the shooting but into the future.
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“He also hoped his actions would give ICE agents real terror of being gunned down, and he did this to induce constant stress in their lives,” Larson said at a press conference in Dallas Thursday afternoon. “He hoped his actions would terrorize ICE employees and interfere with their work, which he called human trafficking, and this, what he did, is the very definition of terrorism.”
On Wednesday, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas field office, Joseph Rothrock, said the shooting was being investigated as “targeted violence,” not terrorism.
The classification of the crime changed after investigators found evidence in Jahn’s residence that stated his goal was to “give ICE agents real terror.” The exterior of a round left at the scene of the crime stated “ANTI-ICE,” according to FBI Director Kash Patel.
This morning just before 7am local time, an individual fired multiple rounds at a Dallas, Texas ICE facility, killing one, wounding several others, before taking his own life. FBI, DHS, ATF are on the ground with Dallas PD and state authorities.
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) September 24, 2025
While the investigation is… pic.twitter.com/SMOyxiKLqA
FBI executes search warrant
A search warrant executed at Jahn’s home led the FBI to evidence that he was the one who had carried out the attack at roughly 6:30 a.m. local time Wednesday. Agents found a number of notes left behind by Jahn.
“[In] one of these notes or papers, the sniper explicitly states, ‘Yes, it was just me,'” Larson said. “That statement appears to be correct at this point in the investigation. Notably, these loose notes included a game plan of the attack and target areas at the facility.”
Jahn is accused of opening fire on ICE and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives agents as they unloaded illegal immigrant detainees from a van and into the building, as well as shooting inside windows at the facility.
“He called the ICE employees people showing up to collect a dirty paycheck. He wrote that he intended to maximize lethality against ICE personnel and to maximize property damage at the facility,” Larson said. “He hoped to minimize any collateral damage or injury to the detainees and any other innocent people. It seems that he did not intend to kill the detainees or harm them.”
How the shooter tracked ICE
Rothrock disclosed that Jahn had allegedly used phone apps that track the movements of ICE personnel to see where they had been and where they were headed.
“He was looking at the apps, as my counterpart mentioned, to see where ICE agents would be,” Rothrock said at the press conference on Thursday.
Since President Donald Trump unleashed his mass deportation operation, opponents have vowed to fight for immigrants who are illegally residing in the United States. The public can use apps to document where ICE is spotted making arrests on the streets, which then allows protesters to show up in real-time.
Federal agents praised for ‘heroism’
Larson said that the “tragic irony” was that the shooter killed a detainee and critically injured two other detainees.
Police and detainees came under fire in the Sally port, an area that typically is enclosed like a garage for police to safely escort people in custody from a vehicle into the building.
DALLAS SHOOTING SUSPECT JOSHUA JAHN WANTED TO ‘GIVE ICE AGENTS REAL TERROR’
It is not clear if the Sally port had an exterior door that was left open, which could have allowed the shooter to access those inside.
“While under fire, ICE agents and ATF agents who were also present in the facility’s Sally port area worked together to remove detainees from the vans and get them to safety while the bullets were flying,” Larson said. “These agents were heroic, clearly. Willing to lay down their lives to save the lives of the detainees in their custody.”