AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The Department of Homeland Security says a gunman fired on a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas early today, shooting three detainees. NPR's Sergio Martínez-Beltrán is in Dallas now and has the latest on this deadly incident. Hi, Sergio.
SERGIO MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN, BYLINE: Good afternoon, Ailsa.
CHANG: Good afternoon. OK, so what do we know about the victims so far?
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Well, this is still developing news. And the information provided by authorities have been changing. Now, the three victims are detainees, like you mentioned. At least one was killed. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the shooter fired indiscriminately at the ICE facility from a nearby rooftop. He also shot at a van in the security entryway, which is where all of the victims were shot. I talked to Mayra, who is a Nicaraguan immigrant who was inside the building to do her immigration check-in this morning.
MAYRA: (Speaking Spanish).
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: She says she was inside the building at around 6:20 a.m. local time when she started hearing gunshots. She says she heard about 20 shots. Now, Mayra requested NPR not use her last name because of her pending immigration case. But she says she froze. She remembers the light blue chairs around her. And the only thing she could think about while the shooting was happening was about her daughter, who was waiting for her outside. Now, eventually, police arrived and evacuated people inside the building.
CHANG: And what's known so far about the shooter and why an ICE facility was targeted?
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Yeah, you know, authorities have not released information about the shooter yet. The gunman was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities say this shooting is being investigated by the FBI as an act of targeted violence. That is because according to the FBI, shell casings with, quote, "anti-ICE messages" were found near the alleged shooter's body.
FBI director Kash Patel released a photo on X earlier today of five rounds that apparently had not been fired. One of them has the words anti-ICE written on it in what seems to be blue ink. And Vice President JD Vance said the shooter is a, quote, "violent left-wing extremist" based on evidence he says the government has, but it's not public yet. Now, earlier today, we also heard from Joshua Johnson, the acting ICE Dallas field office director. Here's what he said.
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JOSHUA JOHNSON: This is the second time I've had to stand in front of you and talk about a shooter at one of my facilities. And I think that the takeaway from all of this is that the rhetoric has to stop.
CHANG: The rhetoric has to stop. I mean, Sergio, how much have we seen an increase in attacks on ICE agents recently?
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Yeah, you know, Ailsa, Johnson is referring to an attack that happened a few months ago over the Fourth of July weekend at another ICE facility about 40 miles from Dallas. In that incident, a local police officer was shot in the neck right outside that facility. And the incident was described as an ambush by the U.S. Attorney's office. At least 10 people were charged in that particular incident.
DHS says that this facility in Dallas where today's shooting happened was the target of a separate bomb threat last month. And, you know, the Trump administration, including ICE director Todd Lyons, have said there have been a more than 1,000% increase in attacks on ICE officers lately. This is what they use as a justification for agents using face coverings when conducting operations, but we haven't seen the data to confirm that spike. Still, President Trump also wrote a lengthy social media post tying anti-ICE attacks to, quote, "deranged radical leftists," writing that ICE agents are facing an unprecedented increase in attacks and calling on Democrats to stop anti-ICE rhetoric. Democratic leaders say they reject violent rhetoric and feel and stand with the immigrant victims.
CHANG: That is NPR's Sergio Martínez-Beltrán in Dallas. Thank you so much, Sergio.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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