Federal officials have charged two suspects with aiding an Antifa member wanted in the ambush on an ICE facility. The Dallas Express has learned that law enforcement also arrested multiple individuals across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex for aiding a fugitive from the attack.
John Phillip Thomas and Lynette Read Sharp are facing accessory charges in the July 4 ambush on the Prairieland ICE Detention Center, which wounded an Alvarado police officer in the neck, according to Fox News. The Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas told the outlet that the suspects were “involved in Signal chats which show reconnaissance.” They are accused of “planning a Google map” with the location of nearby police departments.
The FBI is still searching for Benjamin Song, a 32-year-old from Dallas, who allegedly helped attack the ICE facility. Police had previously arrested at least 11 suspects connected to the shooting, and these charges bring the total to at least 13.
In the ensuing investigation, law enforcement arrested “several” suspects in Dallas and Tarrant counties for helping Song after the shooting, Johnson County District Attorney Tim Good told The Dallas Express in an exclusive interview.
“They facilitated providing aid to Benjamin Song after the shooting,” Good said.
“Some people have been arrested for tampering with physical evidence – meaning they’ve been contacted and told to destroy things that may incriminate somebody. Other people have been aiding and abetting for helping Song go hide somewhere,” Good continued.
The suspects are doing “the same types of activity,” according to Good, but their “commitment or involvement” dictates the specific charge.
“It comes down to basically, aiding and abetting – the charges are different,” he said.
The Dallas Express asked Good to identify the suspects, but he was unable to provide any further details. Officials had not captured Song as of the morning of July 15, but Good expected an arrest in the days to come.
The Dallas Express asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas for more information, but did not hear back in time for publication.
Song was a member of an Antifa militant group – the Elm Fork chapter of the John Brown Gun Club – and had a radical past in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
Officials recently conducted a bust at a Dallas residence last week in search of Song, as The Dallas Express reported at the time. There, they found more than 40 guns, socialist propaganda, and fellow Antifa members in the John Brown Gun Club – including Samuel Fowlkes, who has a violent past and reportedly now identifies as “transgender.” Two suspects in the ICE enforcement incident are also “transgender.”
He added that the First Amendment protects a “correct way to protest,” but not criminal behavior.
“When you cross over and you’re committing crimes, that kind of stuff just won’t be tolerated,” Good said. “Acts of violence, vandalism, and the like – that is not protected by the First Amendment, and there will be criminal charges.”
Good emphasized that the suspects in the ICE attack are facing “serious charges,” adding some of the suspects have criminal histories, but as far as he knows, they don’t have a past in his county.
“We take assaults on peace officers in Johnson County very seriously. We’ve never tolerated that, we’re not going to start here,” Good said. “Knowing our county, I think the outcomes could be a lot different than what they’re used to.”