IS THERE A SNIPER ON THAT ROOF? The Dallas ICE Field Office Sniper Attack September 24, 2025 — Dallas, Texas

Joshua Jahn did not leave the world guessing about why he did what he did. He documented it thoroughly — in handwritten notes at his residence, on his ammunition, and in the digital trail on his devices. The federal record is unusually complete for a case with no prosecution, because Jahn provided his own confession before he died.

A third note recovered at the residence simply read: "Yes, it was just me." He referred to ICE agents as "people showing up to collect a dirty paycheck." Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson confirmed all of this at the post-attack press conference. She stated that the collection of notes showed an animus toward ICE agents and that Jahn had been planning the attack for some time.

FBI Director Kash Patel spoke publicly about what was recovered on Jahn's digital devices. He had searched for information about the ICE field office and how to track ICE agents' locations. He had downloaded a document from the Dallas County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management that contained a list of DHS facilities. He had installed apps that tracked the presence of ICE agents. He had researched ballistics. And on his devices, investigators found video of Charlie Kirk being shot — confirming Jahn was aware of and engaged with the broader political violence landscape unfolding around him.

The DHS confirmed that at least one bullet casing at the scene had "Anti-ICE" written on it. This was not a spontaneous act of rage. This was a premeditated political assassination attempt — planned, documented, executed, and signed.

Joshua Jahn was born in Texas and raised in Allen — a suburb in Collin County, north of Dallas. He was the middle child, with an older brother and a younger sister. His father was an engineer who worked for 36 years at an Allen firm before retiring in June 2020. By all public accounts, it was an ordinary North Texas family in an ordinary North Texas suburb.

Jahn attended the University of Texas at Dallas for about a year starting in 2015 and attended Collin College off and on from 2013 to 2018. His one brush with law enforcement came in 2015, when the Collin County Sheriff's Office arrested him for delivering marijuana. He pleaded guilty in 2016, received five years probation and $680 in fines — and was released early from probation in 2017. He had no violent criminal record.

After the marijuana charge, he worked at a legal cannabis farm in Washington state — sleeping in his car. The farm's owner told the Associated Press that Jahn seemed lost but not mentally unwell. "I don't remember him being that abnormal, he didn't seem to fight with anyone or cause trouble, he kept his head down and stayed working." He later worked briefly at a solar energy company in 2017–2019. His most recent LinkedIn listing was that solar job. No verified social media accounts were found.

Most recently, public records placed him living between his parents' Fairview home and a family property in Durant, Oklahoma, where he had registered as an independent voter in 2021 and voted in the 2024 general election. The Durant Police Department confirmed they had zero prior interactions with Jahn in any capacity — as a suspect, victim, or reporting party.

When law enforcement descended on both the Fairview cul-de-sac and the Durant address after the attack, the neighbors expressed shock. "This is a very small community of eight, ten houses, and we all feel like we know each other," said Sherry Davis, a Fairview neighbor. "Clearly I didn't know them very well."

FBI Special Agent in Charge Joseph Rothrock did not mince words at the press conference. Standing before the cameras less than 24 hours after Jahn's body was found on that Dallas rooftop, Rothrock said plainly: "This attack, yet again, underscores the dangers that law enforcement officers face daily. We continue to see an increase in threats against law enforcement. This is the second attack in recent months on ICE facilities here in North Texas."

The first was July 4, 2025 — 82 days earlier. The North Texas Antifa Cell descended on the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado with 11 firearms, body armor, explosives, and encrypted communications. Their leader, Benjamin Hanil Song, yelled "Get to the rifles!" and shot an Alvarado Police Department officer in the neck. Nine defendants were subsequently charged including Providing Material Support to Terrorists.

Now, 82 days later, in the same geographic region, against the same federal agency, a lone actor had climbed to a rooftop with a sniper rifle bearing the inscription "Anti-ICE." The attack profiles were entirely different — a cell vs. a lone wolf. But the target, the ideology, and the geography were identical.

The news reporting in the compiled summary also notes this was described as "the third in Texas targeting the agency or U.S. Customs and Border Protection." North Texas had become a focal point of anti-ICE political violence in 2025.

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, addressed the rhetorical environment surrounding these attacks directly. "To every politician who is using rhetoric demonizing ICE and demonizing CBP, stop," Cruz told reporters. "To every politician demanding that ICE agents be doxxed and calling for people to go after their families, stop."

The New York Post front page on September 25 — the day after the attack — made the connection explicitly: "After months of Dems calling ICE 'Nazis,' crazed shooter targets them — but kills a migrant." The paper noted that Jahn's attack followed months of left-wing protests against migrant enforcement, and Democrats referring to ICE as "Nazis" and "slave patrols."

SAC Rothrock specifically recognized the bravery of ICE and ATF agents who, when Jahn began firing, put themselves in the line of fire to move people off the transport vehicles and attempt to save those who were wounded. They did not have time to think. They ran toward the shooting.