While Americans celebrated Independence Day, a group of armed anti-enforcement militants allegedly ambushed law enforcement officers at a detention center south of Fort Worth.
“It was a planned ambush with the intent to kill ICE corrections officers,” Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson said at a July 7 press conference attended by The Dallas Express.
Larson said a group dressed in black body armor surrounded the ICE Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado late on July 4. Gunmen took position and ambushed a responding Alvarado police officer, shooting him in the neck.
Suspects reportedly carried a flag that read “resist fascism, fight oligarchy” flyers that said “fight ICE terror with class war” and “free all political prisoners.” Officers also recovered anarchist literature titled Organizing For Attack – Insurrection Anarchy.
“Make no mistake, this was not a so-called ‘peaceful protest,’” Larson said. “It was indeed an ambush.”
Ten suspects were charged with attempted murder of a federal officer and three counts of discharging a firearm during a violent crime. An eleventh suspect was charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy for allegedly attempting to destroy evidence.
If convicted, the ten charged could face 10 years to life in prison, while the eleventh could face up to 10 years. Officials did not directly identify the suspects.
FBI-Dallas Special Agent in Charge Joe Rothrock said, “Let me be clear, this appears to be a coordinated and targeted attack against law enforcement.” He asked the public to call 1-800-CALL-FBI with any tips.
A group of 10 to 12 suspects in “black military-style clothing” surrounded the ICE facility in Alvarado at 10:37 p.m., according to Larson. They began “shooting fireworks” and vandalizing the facility.
“This was part of an organized attack,” she said.
The attackers used vandalism to draw ICE personnel out of the facility, damaging vehicles and a guard structure, and writing words like “traitor, ICE pig” in graffiti, according to Larson. Their plan worked. The facility made a 911 call, and two unarmed corrections officers went outside to confront the vandals.
A gunman had split off from the group and was hiding in the woods. Another was across the street. Then the Alvarado police officer arrived at the scene.
“An assailant who was positioned in the woods shot him in the neck area, another assailant who was across the street – nowhere near the corrections officers – shot 20 to 30 rounds at these unarmed corrections officers,” Larson said. “The assailants fled.”
The wounded officer is expected to recover, said Josh Johnson, special agent in charge of Dallas ICE-Enforcement and Removal Operations. No ICE employees were injured.
Officers found an AR-style rifle at the scene, jammed and “apparently discarded,” according to Larson. Officers also found “Faraday bags,” which are supposed to prevent law enforcement from tracking one’s electronics, and a total of 12 sets of body armor.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office stopped a vehicle with a “single driver,” and found two guns and two Kevlar “ballistic-style vests,” Larson said. Separately, deputies stopped seven suspects 300 yards from the apparent attempted murder. The suspects were “mostly from this area.”
“Some were wearing body armor, some were covered in mud, some were armed, and some had two-way radios on them,” Larson said. “Due to the rapid response of local law enforcement, these individuals were quickly apprehended.”
Additional searches recovered more weapons, tactical gear, and anarchist propaganda, officials said.
Larson called this a “stark and horrifying” example of how law enforcement protects the public. She said it was an “egregious attack” on law enforcement, and part of an “increasing trend of violence against them.”
Larson cited rising annual assaults on officers: seven in 2021 and 2022, 11 in 2023, 18 in 2024, and nine so far this year.
According to Johnson, ICE officers have seen a 700% increase in assaults.
“This will not be tolerated,” Larson said. “Those who use violence against law enforcement officers will be found and they will be prosecuted with the toughest criminal statutes and penalties that we have available to us.”