As David has already pointed out this morning, there's a new attempt at avoiding the obvious when it comes to the Dallas ICE facility shooting. Joshua Jahn is being depicted by people who knew him years ago as an overly-online edgelord, someone who never did anything unless he could do it ironically. The implication is that we shouldn't really take his actions or the statement he wrote on one of the bullet cartridges ("Anti-ICE") as meaning what they appear to mean. Once you fuzz it up with layers of irony, there's just no telling what motivated him.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, FBI Director Kash Patel has released some additional information about the Jahn's preparation for the shooting.
@FBIDallas and FBI HQ have been working 24/7 to seize devices, exploit data, and process writings obtained on location and in the subject's person/residence/bedroom. This @FBI is committed to providing timely updates, as promised:
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) September 25, 2025
- The perp downloaded a document titled "Dallas…
@FBIDallas and FBI HQ have been working 24/7 to seize devices, exploit data, and process writings obtained on location and in the subject's person/residence/bedroom. This @FBI is committed to providing timely updates, as promised:
- The perp downloaded a document titled "Dallas County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management" containing a list of DHS facilities.
- He conducted multiple searches of ballistics and the "Charlie Kirk Shot Video" between 9/23-9/24.
- Between 8/19-8/24, he searched apps that tracked the presence of ICE agents.
- One of the handwritten notes recovered read, "Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, 'is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?"
- Further accumulated evidence to this point indicates a high degree of pre-attack planning.
The FBI will provide further updates when able.
It doesn't sound particularly ironic. It sounds more like un-ironic planning for mass murder. He was identifying targets and stalking ICE agents online. Also the assassination of Charlie Kirk happened on 9/10. So Jahn's search for videos about that this week (9/23-9/24) suggest he was gearing himself up for his own attack.
But the big clue here is his message about inspiring "real terror" in ICE agents. First, the fact that his goal was to terrorize makes it easy to identify this as terrorism, not some form of armed larping.
Second, this completely undercuts one of the dumbest attempts to dismiss his motives which has run rampant on the left. His target for this terror was "ICE agents." He was not targeting detainees. The fact that he hit three detainees, killing one of them, is the result of him firing blindly into a van entering the facility. Maybe he thought it was full of agents showing up for work, but it was full of detainees. As CNN suggested yesterday, it's possible the van's windows were tinted so he had no idea who he was firing at.
And yet, there are still people making this argument in response to Patel's tweet this morning.
So he was against ICE and killed 3 detainees?
— GoldenAR (@1Titus70) September 25, 2025
Nothing that comes out of your FBI makes any fucking sense.
— Samuel Culper III (@Saint_Mikal_13) September 25, 2025
-Every shooting these days seem to come with motives written on the bullet casings for you which is convenient, I guess.
-This dude was “Anti-ICE” but also shot zero ICE agents? I get missed shots happen, but he went…
In case you missed it, there were a lot of big lefty accounts making this same claim yesterday.
Sorry, I'm not buying this bullshit.
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) September 24, 2025
Bullets conveniently found on the scene saying "Anti-ICE," but the only people shot were detainees?
That math ain't mathing. pic.twitter.com/CLtE7cn9st
All of the brightest bulbs were repeating this.
This is the fishiest shit I've ever seen. We're supposed to believe the shooter wrote "Anti-ICE" in pen on a bullet and then shot detainees but not ICE officers? https://t.co/jqgNDfVZpz
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 24, 2025
It's all a plot! (BTW, this guy lied for days about the Charlie Kirk shooter, claiming he was a groyper.)
Sorry…
— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) September 24, 2025
The claim here is a shooter, wrote in pen “anti-ICE” (which is a weird way to write it)… and then only shot the immigrant detainees?
I was willing to give benefit of the doubt on some of the weird stuff in the Kirk investigation, but now I just think they are willing… https://t.co/Nfl0Ap6NGJ
There was lots of this yesterday. It was clearly an attempt to suggest the shooter might have targeted the detainees, thereby making it possible to blame the shooting on Trump and right-wing rhetoric.
Yes, the uhhh suspect was clearly motivated by anti-ICE sentiment which is why he uhhh only shot detainees and not actual ICE agents, and we know this because he uhhh wrote "anti-ICE" on one of the bullets with a ballpoint pen that looks uhhh nothing like the pens in my desk pic.twitter.com/GkO5u08NtE
— Sick Sad World (@YesYoureRacist) September 24, 2025
Catching up on this shooting in Dallas. So two detained immigrants were shot by some deranged person, and Vance, Noem, and all of MAGA are framing it as an attack on ICE agents?
— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) September 24, 2025
So the shooter in Dallas at the ICE office today had "Anti-ICE" written on the bullets?
— Phoeni𝕏 2A 🇺🇸 (@Phoenix2A_1980s) September 24, 2025
But he shot 3 detainees, and only them from what I'm seeing and hearing?
Dude what 🤨 pic.twitter.com/d5cde7PvL0
The bottom line here is that the left is doing it again. After the Charlie Kirk shooting, there were many who did their level best to portray the shooter as right-wing. They ignored evidence to the contrary. Eventually they had convinced a plurality of Democrats this was true despite their being zero evidence to support it. Even Jimmy Kimmel seems to have bought into it.
And then it all collapsed because it was a lie. Most of the people who did the lying just moved on to the next thing. And here we go again. Lying about the targets of this attack was the next thing.
As I said yesterday, it's still early yet and there could be more to come, but the evidence so far seems to be leaning toward this being an anti-ICE attack by a domestic terrorist. If that makes the left uncomfortable, there's a good reason for that.
Update: In case there was any remaining doubt, he was targeting ICE agents, not detainees.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Hot Air's conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join Hot Air VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member