Officials blame 'political rhetoric and misinformation' after shots fired at San Antonio ICE office

The shots came close to hitting federal employees inside the building.

USA Today reports:

Officials blamed "political rhetoric and misinformation" after shots were fired at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in San Antonio, Texas, early Tuesday morning. 

Local TV station KENS 5 reported that suspects fired at the building,which includes the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) field office and Jefferson Bank offices, around 3:00 a.m. CDT Tuesday morning on the northeast side of San Antonio. 

Christopher Combs, special agent in charge of the San Antonio FBI, said in a press conference later Tuesday that “an unknown number of individuals in an unknown number of vehicles” fired shots at the building and came close to hitting federal employees in the building, according to the San Antonio Express-News. 

...

Combs said that ICE was targeted in the shooting since “all of the shots that we have found were on the floors where ICE has offices, so there is no question it is a very targeted attack.”

He slammed the shooting as an "act of violence" that could have resulted in the "assassination of a federal employee."

According to the Express-News, FBI officials said they were investigating a series of attacks against ICE facilities around the country.  

ICE issued a statement later Tuesday on the shooting, reported KENS 5. Daniel Bible, the San Antonio ERO field office director, said that "political rhetoric and misinformation that various politicians, media outlets, and activist groups recklessly disseminate to the American people regarding the ICE mission only serve to further encourage these violent acts.”

"ICE officers put their lives on the line each and every day to keep our communities safe. This disturbing public discourse shrouds our critical law enforcement function and unnecessarily puts our officers’ safety at risk,” he continued. 

Read the rest here.

1 year, 10 months ago

Governors in Iowa, North Dakota and Alabama join GOP colleagues in banning TikTok for state employees

The Republican governors of three more states have joined the growing number of GOP governors who are banning TikTok among state government employees amid security concerns about the Chinese-owned social media platform

1 year, 10 months ago

Arizona Governor Creates Shipping Container Border Wall

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has had hundreds of double-stacked shipping containers topped with razor wire placed on the state’s border with Mexico

1 year, 10 months ago

Stacey Abrams’s Georgia Nonprofit Could Face Criminal Investigations for Unlicensed Fundraising

New Georgia Project's charity license has lapsed in at least nine states

1 year, 10 months ago

Biden says ‘more important things’ than border visit, despite 59 trips to Delaware, 8 stops for ice cream

Biden has yet to visit southern border despite historic crisis under his watch

1 year, 10 months ago

Governor Kristi Noem delivers annual Budget Address, says the state can afford grocery tax cut

In about thirty minutes of remarks, Governor Kristi Noem laid out her administration would like to see nearly $2.2 billion spent over the course of the next fiscal year and a half.

1 year, 10 months ago

‘A Clear And Present Danger To Its Users:’ South Carolina Gov. Bans State Employees From Using TikTok Amid National Security Concerns

South Carolina became the second state in the union Monday to permanently ban state employees’ electronic devices from using TikTok amid federal officials sounding the alarm that the Chinese-based social media app threatens national security