CNN analyst Juliette Kayyam claimed on Wednesday that slogans targeting United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents written on bullets were not sufficient to point to the alleged shooter’s motive.
Two detainees were killed during a shooting at the ICE office in Dallas on Wednesday, with the gunman taking his own life. “CNN News Central” co-host Brianna Keilar asked Kayyem about FBI Director Kash Patel posting an image of some bullets reportedly found near the deceased shooter on X that included the phrase “Anti-ICE.”
“Obviously, they know who it is and it’s someone who took their own life,” Kayyem told Keilar. “So, we’re in a position to be able to find out a lot more in terms of the social media, in terms of who he talked to. I have not been a fan of the FBI director sort of getting ahead of things, because I think it can backfire.”
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“It also, you know, it ends up sort of elevating this before we know all the facts. So he did this before, as we know, in the Charlie Kirk assassination,” Kayyem continued. “So, I would prefer it not just from a, you know, just from a sort of historical, how do FBI directors work. I think it’s helpful to know this, but remember, with the Charlie Kirk stuff as well. And I don’t mean not to believe this at face value.”
Multiple media reports identified the alleged shooter as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn, who had a felony conviction for delivering marijuana in 2016, according to records from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“There’s a generation of people who are becoming more violent in a way that isn’t aligned with something that we know. So there’s this performative nature to this,” Kayyem said. “So he hates ICE, but that’s not enough, right? It’s the — it’s the violence. But it’s also the, here’s what I want to tell the world. So I’d be looking for manifestos. I’d be looking for what websites he’s on to basically try to focus, in fact, who he is. And then what was he doing targeting, if he was, detainees rather than any others?”
“The shooter fired indiscriminately at the ICE building, including at a van in the sallyport where the victims were shot,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement released Wednesday. “Three detainees were shot. One detainee is deceased, and the other two are in critical condition.”
In Texas, there were two previous incidents where shots were fired at ICE or Border Patrol facilities since July 4, with ten people being charged with attempted murder in connection with the former incident. The Dallas ICE facility received a bomb threat in August, according to DHS.
“We implore her to stop making excuses for attacks on law enforcement and violence,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Caller News Foundation when reached for comment. “The facts will come soon.”
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