An agent gathered people who were inside the building, took them to a more secure area and explained that there was an active shooter in the area, Cardona said.
“I was afraid for my family because my family was outside. I felt terrible because I thought something could happen to them. Thank God no,” Cardona said.
Cardona said his family was brought into the building, and they were later reunited.
The ICE facility is along Interstate 35 East, just southwest of Dallas Love Field, a large commercial airport serving the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, and blocks from hotels catering to travellers.
Shortly after the shooting and before officials said at least one of the victims was a detainee, Vice President JD Vance posted on the social platform X that “the obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop.”
Republican US Senator Ted Cruz from Texas continued in that direction, calling for an end to politically motivated violence.
“To every politician who is using rhetoric demonising ICE and demonising CPB: stop,” Cruz told reporters, referencing Customs and Border Protection.
The body of the shooting suspect is placed in the medical examiners van.Credit: AP
But immediately after the news conference in which officials refused to say whether the victims included detainees, Democrat Marc Veasey called in to Dallas’ WFAA-TV newscast and told them he was “absolutely sickened” by some officials’ comments.
“If they are trying to control this narrative and they don’t want migrants to be the victim in this story, then they may want to slow-walk giving us any information about this so they can still keep on talking about attacks on ICE,” Veasey said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem noted there has been an uptick in targeting of ICE agents.
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A July 4 attack at a Texas immigration detention centre injured a police officer, who was shot in the neck. Attackers dressed in black military-style clothing opened fire outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, southwest of Dallas, federal prosecutors said. At least 11 people have been charged in connection with the attack.
A man with an assault rifle fired dozens of rounds at federal agents as they were leaving a US Border Patrol facility in McAllen on July 7. The man, identified as Ryan Louis Mosqueda, injured a police officer who responded to the scene before authorities shot and killed him. Police later found other weaponry, ammunition and backpacks inside his car.
AP
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