When people arrived at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas early Wednesday morning for routine appointments, they were instead thrust into chaos as an ordinary day turned into a life-threatening nightmare.
Sharp cracks of gunfire pierced the morning air, loud, jarring pangs that echoed off the concrete. Inside the building, officials shouted warnings: a sniper was firing.
From the rooftop of a nearby building, the gunman, later identified as Joshua Jahn, was unleashing bullets, targeting the facility.
The shooting began at about 6:30 a.m. and bullets “sprayed the length of the building, the windows and law enforcement vans that were in the sally port area,” of the ICE facility, Nancy Larson, acting US attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said. Sally ports are controlled entry points commonly found in prisons and on military bases.
“It was a very traumatic moment for everyone there,” a Venezuelan woman, who CNN is not identifying due to safety concerns, said. Gripped by terror, she braced for the worst.
“Honestly, a lot of things go through your mind. I can’t even explain … Who would imagine something like that would happen in such a guarded, protected facility?”
With one detainee dead and two others seriously injured, according to Larson, fear has infiltrated the immigrant community.
The detainees who were shot in the attack have been identified as Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez of Mexico, Jose Andres Bordones-Molina of Venezuela and Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Many are now returning to the facility with anxious hearts, desperate to do the right thing but haunted by what happened.
Still, fear of deportation outweighs the fear of bullets for many.
Eugenio Uscategui, who has been in the US for nearly four years and is also from Venezuela, arrived at the building after the shooting and was told he would have to come back the next day.
He was scared, but still came back, he said, “out of fear of being deported.” He doesn’t want to risk missing a step in his immigration process.
“There’s uncertainty because you never know if there’s another shooter nearby or if something could happen. Honestly, the city feels very dangerous today,” he said.
Blanca Jimenez, an immigrant from Mexico, was inside the facility when the shooting began. The gunshots were deafening, “like bombs,” she said.
Still, she returned the next day, fear in her chest but resignation in her steps.
“I am afraid, yes,” she says. “But I had to come.”