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Gunman wrote 'ANTI-ICE' on unused bullet in fatal attack on Dallas immigration office
A gunman, who wrote “ANTI-ICE” on an unused bullet, fired on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas from a nearby rooftop on Wednesday, killing a detainee and badly wounding two others before taking his own life, officials said.
President Donald Trump and members of his administration seized on the attack as the latest instance of what they characterized as an escalation of politically motivated violence incited by the left.
They accused California governor Gavin Newsom and other Democrats of stirring hate by unfairly vilifying law enforcement and conservative political figures, Reuters reported.
FBI director Kash Patel posted a photo on X showing what he said was the suspect’s unused ammunition. The shell casing of one round was inscribed with “ANTI-ICE.”
“While the investigation is ongoing, an initial review of the evidence shows an ideological motive behind this attack,” Patel wrote. US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem later said in a Fox News interview that the gunman “was targeting ICE,” based on “evidence so far in this case.”
On his Truth Social platform, Trump accused “Radical Left Democrats” of stoking anti-ICE violence by “constantly demonizing Law Enforcement, calling for ICE to be demolished, and comparing ICE Officers to Nazis.”
Invoking the recent assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, Trump said that “radical left terrorists” pose a “grave threat” to law enforcement and “must be stopped.”
Trump said he would sign an executive order this week to “dismantle these domestic terrorism networks.” He offered no evidence to support the notion that “networks,” rather than individuals, were behind recent acts of political violence, or that left-wing perpetrators were any more prevalent than those on the right in recent years.
In a statement about the Texas shooting, the Department of Homeland Security said the suspect fired “indiscriminately” at the ICE facility, including at a van in the building’s secured entryway where the victims were shot. DHS said one detainee was killed and two others were in critical condition.
Officials have not disclosed the identities of the victims.
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Former FBI director James Comey expected to be indicted on criminal charges, reports say
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
James Comey, the former director of the FBI, is reportedly facing imminent criminal charges, which are expected to be filed in federal court in Virginia, according to a report by MSNBC on Wednesday.
Comey has long been a focus of criticism from former President Donald Trump, who dismissed him from his role as FBI chief during the early months of his first term.
The news of a possible indictment surfaced just days after Erik Siebert, who had been serving as the acting US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, resigned under political pressure from Trump. Siebert had reportedly opposed pursuing charges against Comey in that jurisdiction.
On Monday, Lindsey Halligan, an attorney who has previously represented Trump in personal legal matters, was appointed as Siebert’s replacement.
In a social media post over the weekend, Trump expressed his outrage over the lack of charges against Comey, labelling him “guilty as hell.”
MSNBC journalist Ken Dilanian posted on X on Wednesday, stating that “the full extent of the charges being prepared against Comey is unclear.”
In other developments:
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Donald Trump demanded an investigation of what he called “triple sabotage” of his UN address on Tuesday: a malfunctioning escalator, a faulty teleprompter and an apparent sound problem in the hall. UN officials said the US delegation was responsible for the first two, and the third was less dramatic than Trump claimed.
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JD Vance, the vice-president, claimed without evidence that a gunman who opened fire at an Ice facility in Dallas, killing one detainee and wounding two more before taking his own life, was a “violent leftwing extremist”.
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The White House used a wall of the presidential residence to stage an elaborate prank, creating a “walk of fame” featuring framed portraits of 44 of the 45 men to have served as president, all except for Joe Biden, who was represented by an image of an autopen, to suggest that he did not actually run his administration.
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House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, said that Democrats “have drawn a line in the sand” when it comes to the Republican-written short term spending bill, that extends government funding until 21 November.
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The state superintendent in Oklahoma announced plans to put rightwing Turning Point USA chapters in every high school in the state, saying it would counter “radical leftist teachers’ unions” and their “woke indoctrination”.
