Alvarado ICE Facility Ambush: 21st person facing charges related to 'coordinated attack'
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: FBI on group involved in Alvarado ICE facility ambush
Nine defendants, allegedly led by a cult leader, appeared in court to face charges for the July ambush-style shooting of an Alvarado police officer during an attack at an ICE facility.
ALVARADO, Texas - Another North Texas woman was arrested in connection with the July 4 shooting outside an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Johnson County.
Alvarado ICE Attack
Janette Goering (Johnson County Sheriff's Office)
What's new:
Janette Goering was arrested at a home in Carrollton on Tuesday.
Authorities said she provided supplies to suspect Benjamin Song and helped him escape from the ICE facility in Alvarado to Dallas.
Song was arrested 11 days after the shooting.
Goering is being charged with aiding in the commission of terrorism.
What we know about Benjamin Song, suspect in Alvarado ICE detention center attack
Benjamin Song, the man behind a statewide Blue Alert after a July 4 attack on an immigration detention center, was previously sued over his involvement in a counter-protest outside a Fort Worth drag show in 2023.
The backstory:
Goering is now the 21st person to face charges for the July 4 shooting that injured an Alvarado police officer outside the Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Alvarado, 25 miles south of Fort Worth.
Law enforcement officials said 10 to 12 people in black military-style clothing began shooting fireworks at the facility. One or two others broke off from the group and began to damage vehicles and spray graffiti. Officials say the graffiti said things like "ICE pig", "traitor" and profanity.
Officials believe it was all a ploy to draw ICE detention officers out of the building.
Two unarmed officers made their way outside to talk to the vandals. The Alvarado Police Department was also called to investigate.
When an Alvarado officer arrived, a gunman who was positioned in the woods shot the officer in the neck. Another gunman across the street fired 20 to 30 rounds at the unarmed correctional officers.
The alleged attackers fled from the scene, but law enforcement officers with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office stopped them.
Investigators reportedly found several weapons, including a jammed AR-style rifle at the scene, two-way radios, flyers, spray paint, masks, goggles, gloves, fireworks, a flag saying "Resist Facism. Fight Oligarchy," and a total of 12 sets of body armor after searching the scene and the defendants' cars.
Alvarado ICE facility attack: 11 charged in 'ambush' on ICE officers, officials say
Eleven people face charges after a "planned ambush" of an ICE facility in Alvarado where a group intended "to kill ICE corrections officers," according to law enforcement officials.
One defendant also had cellphones inside a type of bag that blocks cellphone signals.
Another defendant told the sheriff's deputy that he met some people online and took them from Dallas to the detention center to "make some noise," according to court documents.
Law enforcement officials have called the shooting a "conspiracy" and "coordinated attack."
Song, who allegedly fired the shot that hit the Alvarado officer, is charged with three counts of attempted murder of federal agents and three counts of discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.
Ten others are facing charges for the attempted murder of a federal officer. They include Cameron Arnold, Savanna Batten, Nathan Baumann, Zachary Evetts, Joy Gibson, Bradford Morris, Maricela Rueda, Seth Sikes, Elizabeth Soto, and Ines Soto.
Other alleged accomplices are face less severe charges in connection with the attack.
The Source: The information in this story comes from a news update from the Johnson County Sheriff's Office and past news coverage.