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The Situation Room

Deadly Shooting at Texas ICE Facility. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired September 24, 2025 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news: a deadly shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas, Texas, resulting in one person killed and two others hospitalized with injuries. Police there tell us the shooter is dead.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer has the day off, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

And we begin this hour with the breaking news. We are standing by for officials in Dallas to give an update on the shooting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office. One person is dead and two others are injured, officials telling CNN at least two of the victims are detainees. And we're told that no ICE officers were injured in this attack.

Dallas police say a gunman opened fire on the government building from an adjacent building. Audio from the Dallas police's early response to the shooting briefly describes the scene. Listen here.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten Four. We got one -- we've got one officer on scene. We've got one officer en route from Channel Five and says it's going to be a sniper on top of the roof.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BROWN: So let's go live now to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez and Ed Lavandera. Ed is in Dallas.

Ed, I'm going to go to you first.

What are you hearing on the ground there? And, by the way, there was quite a statement from the governor there in Texas.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the governor saying, as we reported just moments ago, that this assassination, his words, will not slow down the work that immigration authorities are continuing to conduct.

So that word does kind of stand out. But let me give you a sense, Pamela, of where we are. This ICE facility is along the service road of Interstate 35 on the west side, southbound lanes that take you into downtown Dallas.

This is as close as we can get because this area is completely cordoned off by law enforcement authorities here this morning. But you can see the flashing lights. The ICE facility is just to the right of that tree line that you see behind there.

Earlier this morning, I was on the backside of it as law enforcement officers were descending on the scene and closing off the streets. And as you heard there from the audio dispatch, there's some concern about perhaps the shooter fired at the ICE facility from an elevated position.

I can tell you there are a number of office buildings on the backside of this area. And the ICE facility is kind of surrounded by private businesses and some law firms and that sort of thing on the other side. So we're waiting and trying to get more clarity on how all of this unfolded here this morning.

We are expecting a briefing from law enforcement officers here in just a short while. Authorities there are preparing for that. But right now there's a massive area around this ICE facility that has been cordoned off here this morning, as investigators continue to work the scene here this morning -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Priscilla, to bring you in, what are you hearing from your sources?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela, actually, I just got off the phone with someone who told me that there were immigration attorneys who expected to go to this facility today to talk to detainees, so working on gathering more information there.

That is pretty normal, by the way. This Dallas ICE facility is a place where detainees after they are arrested are taken to that building. They are processed there. There are about three or four holding cells and a couple dozen people there at any given time before they are then transferred to a detention center.

So this is typically how it goes when it comes to the processing of detainees. And we mentioned detainees here because sources tell us that at least two of those who were shot in this incident were detainees.

[11:05:08]

Homeland Security officials have said over the have said over the course of the morning that no ICE agents were shot or hurt, but they have also acknowledged that this facility had been targeted with a bomb threat in late August and that attacks and assaults on officers has been ramped up in recent months, but, again, focusing back on this facility where there are these holding rooms for detainees where they would have been processed into the building, then held in those cells before moving on to a detention center.

Now, the acting ICE director earlier today had mentioned as well that this was a place where there would be ICE employees, there would have been civilians. Again, as I just mentioned, attorneys go to this facility as well as family members who may be visiting detainees and the detainees themselves.

Now, as you heard there from Ed, we're expecting to learn more in this press conference. What I did learn moments ago from a Homeland Security official is that the person was shooting from an elevated position. This seems to sort of go with what we have heard from Dallas police, which was that the shooter was in an adjacent building.

So, again, Pamela, the picture is slowly coming together, but we're still waiting on so many more details from Dallas police and from the Department of Homeland Security, which again has -- the secretary sent prayers for the victims and their families, but still gathering what the motive was for this shooter, which is still very much unclear.

BROWN: All right, Priscilla, Ed, stay with us as we wait this press conference there in Dallas.

I'm going to bring in Charles Ramsey, a senior law enforcement analyst and former Philadelphia police commissioner.

Charles, wondering what your thoughts are on Governor Abbott's statement calling this an assassination and officials saying that there was a sniper.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, apparently, it was a sniper who murdered the individual, whoever that person is.

And, again, my condolences to that family, whoever that individual happens to be. But, again if there was intent, then it was an assassination. The question is, why? Why did the person shoot whoever it was they shot? Was this intentional in terms of the target? Or was this some random firing that took place? We just don't know.

And it's difficult to speculate. In fact, you shouldn't speculate, quite frankly. We need facts. We need more information to know exactly what took place and why it took place. I'd be surprised if they don't have an identity for this individual and if they aren't already in the process of combing through a vehicle, a home, social media footprint, whatever it might be to get more information on this individual.

So I think we will learn some things during this press conference. But, as always, usually, there's a little something that you may hold back at the time because you haven't been able to verify it. It's still early in the investigation.

BROWN: All right, I want to bring in John Miller, our chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.

John, what are you learning from your sources about this?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it's very fluid. And as Chief Ramsey pointed out, they are sorting through, who is this gunman? What is the identity? What is the background? What are the messages connected with this shooting?

And that is something we may learn in the course of the press conference in terms of messages.

But where we are right this minute is, as Chief Ramsey framed it, we don't know whether this was an anti-migrant shooting because of the victimology who was struck or whether this is an anti-ICE shooting. And the governor's statements about assassination suggest he has some information that we don't have yet and that may not be entirely clear to authorities.

So the press conference is going to be very pivotal, because they're going to be able to tell us in some form what they know, what they don't know, and what they're doing to find out.

BROWN: And just for our viewers to better understand, this ICE facility has held about 8,000 temporarily detainees -- temporary detainees over the first six months of the Trump administration. This is according to a CNN analysis of ICE data.

So this is a place where detainees have been held. It was targeted over the summer for a bomb threat, John Miller. What kind of security would typically be at a facility like this?

MILLER: Well, because it involves detainees, it is an organically secure facility in terms of who gets in, how far, and who gets out, which may have something to do with why it is the kind of shooting it is, meaning from an elevated location and from another building, because the -- forgive me for saying this, but this is the America we live in now.

[11:10:09]

The standard active shooter would walk into a crowded location and open fire. In a secure location, you would have to do that a different way. On the other hand, there's also what the experts call the contagion factor, which is one shooting often begets another and another, because people who are already of that mind-set thinking about it tend to accelerate when they see a plan that looks like theirs unfolding somewhere else.

In this case, we have, as somebody mentioned just a short while ago on this broadcast, the sniper attack on President Trump, the sniper attack on Charlie Cook (sic), which may have, have made people who are thinking of one kind of shooting start to think of another. And that's something that the profilers and behavioral experts actually consider in these things, which is, what are the threats and what are the drivers of those threats?

This is one of those things that the shooter's identity, perhaps the shooter's social media and perhaps whatever messages the shooter might have left at the scene before, as we are told, taking his own life will probably be our first instruction as to motive.

BROWN: All right, John Miller, stand by.

I'm going to go back out to Ed Lavandera, who is at that press conference.

What's the latest out there, Ed? Ed, can you hear me?

Oh, Ed clearly is not ready, so hopefully we will get him back when he's ready.

But, John Miller, as we await this press conference, what are some of the key questions you have?

MILLER: Well, the questions are going to be, what were the threats to these facilities, what was the security posture there, what is the identity of the shooter, what is the background and the motive?

But I think rooted in what your earlier question was, we have seen this before. There have been attacks on ICE facilities, shootings at ICE facilities. We haven't seen exactly this scenario, the sniper from an elevated position. We have seen people walk up in open fire.

And that is kind of the difference between what might be the disorganized offender, something very spontaneous without a lot of planning behind it, and the organized offender, someone who's been thinking about this and looking for strategy and locations and a plan to do this kind of damage.

BROWN: Still a lot to learn. We hope to learn more at this press conference.

Now let's go back out to Ed Lavandera -- Ed.

LAVANDERA: Hey, Pamela.

Well, we are here. This is the setup that local law enforcement has created here. We're in a parking lot of a fast-food restaurant just a couple of blocks up and buildings up from where this ICE facility sits. And the entire area, this backs up to or butts up to the interstate here on the Interstate 35.

And then so there are a lot of office buildings and commercial businesses around the area, in this particular area of Dallas and where this ICE facility is located. We haven't gotten word yet on exactly which law enforcement agencies are going to be speaking here. But we imagine it would be Dallas police and obviously some federal law enforcement.

So it's not exactly clear who's taking the lead from -- on all of that at this point, but clearly a very active situation here as law enforcement and investigators go through the scene.

I can tell you, having been here just shortly after the shooting happened in the area in the streets behind the ICE facility, I was there as law enforcement officers were descending on the scene and starting to cordon off and shut off the streets there this morning. And it was rather chaotic.

And a lot of different types of businesses, a commercial stretch, and a lot of little small streets to kind of navigate through, so as investigators try to piece together where these shots came from, who was behind it, did this person have any help or any -- all those kinds of questions that are burning questions right now for investigators.

And we hope to at least some clarity on all of this, but this taking place here this morning during a very stormy rush hour traffic scene time of day here in Dallas, so all of that kind of complicating the situation here this morning. But the rain is starting to let up, and hopefully here shortly we will hear from law enforcement officers -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Ed Lavandera, John Miller, Charles Ramsey, thank you.

Stay with us. We're awaiting this press conference there in Dallas. And we will be right back.

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BROWN: All right, we're going to go live to Dallas, where you see officials are standing by to speak and update us on the shooting at an ICE facility, where officials say two people were transported to the hospital with gunshot wounds and one victim died at the scene.

Officials say that the suspect is deceased and that the suspect is a sniper that was shooting from an elevated space.

Governor Abbott, for his part, has weighed in on this and he called this an assassination. You hear her saying there that they're about to get started.

I want to go to our Ed Lavandera, who is standing by.

Actually, let's -- it looks he's walking up to the mic, so let's listen in.

ERIC JOHNSON (R), MAYOR OF DALLAS, TEXAS: Let me just start off by saying that I'm a person who believes very, very strongly in the power of prayer and that prayer changes things.

[11:20:03]

And so I'm going to ask everyone, please join me in praying for the families of the folks who lost their lives today. Pray for the speedy recovery, for those who are hurt and were injured in what happened today, but, maybe even more to the point, we're a country and a city that needs prayer.

So I'm going to ask you all to join me also in praying for this city that we can come together at a time like this, and that we can be there for one another the way we always have in times like this, to support one another, to help us all get through this very difficult time, not just in our city, but in our country.

And that's why I'd ask you to pray for our nation. There's a lot going on right now in our country. A lot of it's confusing. It's a scary time. I have got children. I have got three young children, and I'm here to tell you that it is challenging to explain to them what's going on in our country right now.

But I have said before, and I will say it again, I believe in the power of prayer to change things. And it can change the hearts of people. It can change this country. It can change the city. So please pray for everyone who's affected by today's tragedy.

I also want to say thank you to the Dallas Police Department and say thank you to the Dallas Sheriff's Department, Dallas County Sheriff's Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, and all of our various federal law enforcement partners who acted so quickly today to make sure that today's tragedy wasn't worse than what it was.

So on behalf of the city of Dallas, I want to say thank you to all of you. And you're going to hear from some of those folks later, but I wanted to let that we appreciate what you all do, not just today, but every day to help keep us all safe.

And, lastly, and this is really important. I would ask all of you, all of you, all the city of Dallas residents who can hear me right now, let's be patient. Let's remain calm. And let's let our law enforcement partners, our police department do their job.

This is an active investigation. There's still a lot of unanswered questions. And I want to encourage all of you to exercise a little bit of restraint and allow them to do their job to help make sure this continues to be a safe city and that they can help us figure out what happened here today.

But, with that, I want to say again thank you to all the folks who came out this morning from our law enforcement community. I will turn it over to our police chief, Daniel Comeaux, to speak a little bit more directly to the investigation itself.

And with that, CHIEF COMEAUX, thank you.

DANIEL COMEAUX, DALLAS, TEXAS, POLICE CHIEF: Thank you, Mayor.

Today, at approximately 6:40 a.m. we received the assist the officer call. We responded to the call, got to the scene, and we later learned that we had four individuals that were shot, two of them deceased, including the shooter.

The DPD was -- quickly was able to locate the shooter, who was deceased. We're going to be working this investigation shoulder to shoulder with our federal partners. The FBI is on scene.

And, right now, I'm going to introduce you to the SAC of the Dallas field division FBI, Joe Rothrock.

JOE ROTHROCK, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Yes, good morning. My name is Joe Rothrock. I'm the special agent in charge of the Dallas FBI field office.

I want to first start by thanking our partners and local law enforcement, specifically the Dallas Police Department, for their quick and timely response. I can confirm at this time that the FBI is investigating this incident as an act of targeted violence. It is, unfortunately, just the most recent example we have seen of targeted violence, to include here in North Texas, where, back on July 4. We saw a coordinated attack carried out against an immigration detention center in Alvarado, Texas.

[11:25:07]

What I can also share with you is an early evidence that we have seen from rounds that were found near the suspected shooter contained messages that are anti-ICE in nature. Again, this is just the most recent example of this type of attack.

This will be a whole-of-government response. There will be no resource not utilized to bring all those individuals who are responsible, to bring them to justice and to hold them accountable. While we're not releasing identities of any victims at this time, what I can confirm for you is no members of law enforcement were hurt during this attack.

If any member of the public has information that would help the FBI's investigation, I would ask that you please report that to 1-800-CALL- FBI. Again, any piece of information will be helpful, but this will be an ongoing investigation between us, a number of federal partners, and our local partners, again to ensure that anyone responsible is held accountable.

With that, I will turn it over to my counterpart from the ICE Enforcement and Removal Office.

JOSHUA JOHNSON, ACTING ICE DALLAS FIELD OFFICE DIRECTOR: Good morning. My name is Joshua Johnson. I'm the acting field office director for ICE Dallas.

I will be brief with my comments, but I do want to start off by saying thank you to the Dallas Police Department, Dallas FBI, HSI, CBP, ATF, and virtually every law enforcement officer in North Texas for your support.

This is the second time I have 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. There are people out there who are seeing what is being placed online, and they're coming in and they're doing acts of violence against ICE employees.

So that's kind of all I have for today, is that it's just got to stop. It's dangerous. People are losing their lives. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you all so much for coming. We really appreciate it. Again, thank you all so much.

As it was said here today, if you do have any information, reach out to 1-800-CALL-FBI. Thank you. Thank you. SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): This needs to stop. Violence is wrong.

Politically motivated violence is wrong. It was two weeks ago today that we saw a political assassination in Utah that tore the heart out of much of this country.

This is the third shooting in Texas directed at ICE or CBP. This must stop. To every politician who is using rhetoric demonizing ICE and demonizing CBP, stop. To every politician demanding that ICE agents be doxxed and calling for people to go after their families, stop.

This has very real consequences. Look, in America, we disagree that's fine. That's the democratic process, but your political opponents are not Nazis. We need to learn to work together without demonizing each other, without attacking each other.

And I want to say thank you. I want to say thank you to the brave men and women of law enforcement. I want to say thank you to the brave men and women of ICE and CBP and everyone who puts their lives on the line to keep us safe.

The divisive rhetoric tragically has real consequences. I hope that every one of us will pray, number one, for the safety of law enforcement that are risking their lives to keep us safe, number two, for the health of those who were shot and injured today. We still don't know the full details of who was injured, but for the families also of the victims of this shooting.

Violence has no place. It is wrong. And we should come together. If we want to have a debate about immigration policies, we can do so in the halls of Congress without demonizing each other and especially without demonizing the men and women who every day put on a badge and go risk their lives to keep us safe.

And we should not be putting language out there that inspires madmen to commit evil crimes. Our prayers are with the men and women of law enforcement.