Some of the suspects charged with attempted murder of two ICE agents and a police officer at Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, on Independence Day met in an online chat group on Signal, and court records show the incident could have been worse.
A July 7 criminal complaint filed by the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas alleges that assailants shot 20 to 30 rounds from an AR-15-style rifle before it jammed, causing it to malfunction.
Investigators continued on Tuesday to look into how the suspects were linked, including through a possible Signal group chat. Ten individuals are facing federal charges, including three counts of attempted murder of federal agents in addition to three counts of "discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence."
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In addition, the U.S. Attorney's office charged an 11th suspect, Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada, with concealing evidence.
On Friday night, the heavily armed group lured two unarmed ICE agents into a parking lot by firing a barrage of fireworks at their door, and spray-painting graffiti on their personal cars with the words "traitor" and "Ice Pig," which agents could see from the cameras inside.
At around the same time, a police officer responded to their 911 call for two men firing rounds from a nearby tree line, and an officer was hit in the neck, which forced the agents to take cover. The officer who was hit is expected to recover, according to DHS.
Suspect Bradford Morris was arrested while trying to flee from the scene in a red Hyundai van. While in custody, he told an FBI agent he had been "part of a Signal Group Chat for a while and that he had been invited to the group chat years ago after attending a protest." He drove to the incident with another suspect and two people he only knew by their nicknames, "Champagne and Rowan." Inside Morris' van, police found a revolver, two AR-15 rifles, two Kevlar vests, a ballistic helmet and a loaded magazine.
According to the criminal complaint, Morris "claimed that he met some people online and transported some of them down from Dallas" to the center in order to "make some noise."
Police also found seven suspects in black military fatigues wandering in a field 300 yards away, some of whom were covered in mud from trying to escape on foot. They also had weapons, vests and radios.
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"One possibility is that they are related and this is a national concerted effort, to go after first responders," Alex Del Carmen, criminologist, told Fox 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth.
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"The second possibility is that, in fact, this may not be related at all, and these are simply copycats, people are getting inspired to do this kind of harm to first responders because they're reading what's happening in other states," he added.
Court records revealed extensive planning as well as anti-government literature obtained in an apartment tied to a suspect, including literature entitled "Organising for Attack! Insurrectionary Anarchy."
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The term "insurrectionary anarchy" is explained as a "subset of anarchism that stands out for its commitment to violence and revolutionary insurrection," according to a Perspectives on Terrorism journal article, which is part of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, from March 2024. The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point also had a journal article in March 2023 that explained "insurrectionary anarchism is regarded as the most serious form of domestic (non-jihadi) terrorist threat."
Another suspect allegedly had flyers in his backpack with "Fight ICE terror with class war!" and "Free all political prisoners."
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"ICE is actively working with the FBI and the Texas Rangers regarding the incident," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.
"Threats or acts of violence toward law enforcement officers will NOT be tolerated. Secretary Noem has made it clear: If you threaten or attempt to harm a law enforcement officer, we will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law," the statement continued.
Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI and the Department of Justice.
