Former friends of the gunman who fatally shot an ICE detainee and wounded two others at a Dallas facility on Wednesday say he was not interested in politics, according to a report.
Authorities said that Joshua Jahn, 29, who shot people at the facility before turning the gun on himself, had engraved an anti-ICE message on a bullet casing.
Newsweek contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI for comment via email on Thursday.
Why It Matters
Following the shooting, speculation has grown about whether it was politically motivated. At this time little is known about Jahn’s beliefs or potential motivations, beyond the bullet engraving.
The FBI and Vice President JD Vance have said that the attack was politically motivated. But former friends have reportedly said Jahn was not overtly political, describing him instead as an online provocateur who said things for shock value.
What To Know
Journalist Ken Klippenstein has quoted unnamed former friends of Jahn as saying that he cultivated an ironic persona online on forums such as the anonymous message board 4chan, and had contempt for mainstream politics.
One friend who reportedly knew the shooter since he was eight years old said: “He was never really into politics, especially not politicians.”
“He was into politics only in the 4chan sense—contrarian, provocative, boundary-pushing for laughs, not conviction,” the former friend said.
Klippenstein noted that all of the people he interviewed were former friends of Jahn, and that he had not been able to speak with anyone who could provide insight on his recent views.
The friends suggested that Jahn had become increasingly socially isolated after he dropped out of college and lost many of his friends due to his overly provocative behavior.
One friend told Klippenstein that he had stopped talking to Jahn because he had become “unbearable,” due to “taking his 4chan/irony stuff into daily interactions.”
“If you’re having trouble finding people besides immediate family who knew him, that’s part of the story,” another friend told the reporter. “Every mutual friend drifted away over that kind of edgelord behavior.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said that the “anti-ICE” engraving on a bullet casing suggested it was a politically motivated attack.
One of his former friends reportedly told Klippenstein that they did not believe the engraving was sincere, speculating: “I think he tried his best to write something goofy … to rile people up.”
What People Are Saying
Vice President JD Vance said at an event in North Carolina: “What we know is that in Dallas, Texas, an ICE facility was opened fire upon by a violent left-wing extremist, a person who wrote anti-ICE messaging on their bullets. And there’s some evidence we have that’s not yet public, but we know this person was politically motivated.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X: “While the investigation is ongoing, an initial review of the evidence shows an idealogical motive behind this attack (see photo below). One of the unspent shell casings recovered was engraved with the phrase “ANTI ICE.”
What Happens Next
As the investigation continues, more information about Jahn’s personality and political views are likely to come to light.