9 'Antifa cell members' indicted in connection with Alvarado ICE shooting
FORT WORTH, Texas - Nine suspects were indicted Thursday in connection with a "planned ambush" attack on officers at an ICE facility in Alvarado on July 4.
The charges include attempted murder of officers and providing materials to terrorists.
Alvarado ICE attack indictments
The latest:
The indictment lobs 12 charges at Cameron Arnold, AKA Autumn Hill, Zachary Evetts, Benjamin Song, Savanna Batten, Bradford Morris, AKA Meagan Morris, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, Ines Soto, and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada.
Of the nine, Arnold and Evetts had already been indicted in October, on what FBI director Kash Patel called the first Antifa-related terrorism charge after President Donald Trump designated Antifa as a terrorist organization in September.
First 'Antifa-related' terror charge: DOJ indicts 2 in Alvarado ICE facility attack
The Department of Justice has charged two suspects in the July 4th Alvarado ICE facility shooting with terrorism-related counts, which the FBI director is characterizing as the first-ever Antifa-related terrorism prosecution.
Additional ICE shooting charges
Charges were also filed Thursday against Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Susan Kent, Rebecca Morgan, Lynette Sharp, and John Thomas with one count of providing material support to terrorists. A 16th defendant, Seth Sikes, was charged by information in late October with one count of providing material support to terrorists.
Guilty plea hearings for Baumann, Gibson, Thomas, Sharp, and Sikes will be held, followed the week after by Morgan.
Surveillance stills of fireworks used in Alvarado ICE facility attack
Twelve charges, nine suspects
The charges filed were broken down by the U.S. Attorney's office as follows:
- Riot, with the intent to commit an act of violence, involving conduct such as shooting and throwing fireworks and explosives, slashing tires on a government vehicle, spraying graffiti on property and vehicles, destroying a closed circuit camera, shooting at officers, and dressing in black bloc. Defendants charged: Cameron Arnold, Zachary Evetts, Benjamin Song, Savanna Batten, Bradford Morris, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, Ines Soto
- Providing Material Support to Terrorists, including property, services, training, communications equipment, weapons, explosives, personnel (including themselves), and transportation. Defendants charged: Arnold, Evetts, Song, Batten, Morris, Rueda, E. Soto, and I. Soto
- Conspiracy to Use and Carry an Explosive, and Using and Carrying an Explosive, during a riot. Defendants charged: Arnold, Evetts, Song, Batten, Morris, Rueda, E. Soto, and I. Soto
Featured
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.
- Attempted Murder of Officers and Employees of the United States, involving the unlawful attempt to kill with malice aforethought Correctional Officers-1 and 2, and an Alvarado Police Officer. Defendants charged: Song, Arnold, Evetts, Morris, and Rueda
- Discharging a Firearm During, and in Relation to, and in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence, i.e., the attempted murder of two correctional officers and an Alvarado Police Officer. Defendants charged: Song, Arnold, Evetts, Morris, and Rueda
- Corruptly Concealing a Document or Record, by transporting a box containing numerous Antifa materials, such as insurrection planning, anti-law enforcement, anti-government, and anti-immigration enforcement documents and propaganda from Sanchez Estrada’s residence to a location in Denton, Texas, intending to conceal the box’s contents and impair its availability for use in a federal grand jury and federal criminal proceeding. Defendant charged: Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada
- Conspiracy to Conceal Documents and other objects that would implicate Maricela Rueda in the riot and shooting at the Prairieland facility. Defendants charged: Sanchez Estrada and Maricela Rueda
Possible sentences
What's next:
If convicted, Song, Arnold, Evetts, Morris, and Rueda each face a minimum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Batten, Elizabeth Soto, and Ines Soto each face a sentence ranging from a minimum of 10 years up to 50 years in federal prison. Sanchez Estrada faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each count.
Baumann, Gibson, Kent, Morgan, Sharp, Thomas, and Sikes face up to15 years in federal prison.
Alvarado ICE Facility Ambush: 21st person facing charges related to 'coordinated attack'
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.
‘Violent Antifa cell members’
What they're saying:
"This is the first indictment in the country against a group of violent Antifa cell members," said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy E. Larson. "The charges the Grand Jury has leveled against these defendants, including material support for terrorists, address the vicious attack perpetrated by an anti-ICE, anti-law enforcement, anti-government, anarchist group. I applaud the tenacious work of the FBI, ICE, our state and local law enforcement partners, and the prosecutors and staff in my office. They have tirelessly pursued justice in this case, and will continue to pursue justice in any cases like it. We are firm in our resolve to protect our law enforcement officers and federal facilities against organized domestic terrorist cells."
"The updated charges in this case underscore the seriousness of the crimes committed at the Prairieland Detention Center on July 4. We would like to thank our law enforcement partners for assisting us with this investigation. This collaborative effort reflects our collective commitment to holding these individuals accountable for this coordinated attack," said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock.
"Four months ago, in an attempt to sow anarchy and chaos and to undermine the rule of law, a coordinated attack was carried out on the Prairieland Detention Center, leaving one of our local law enforcement officers injured and a community in disarray," said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Dallas Acting Field Office Director Robert Cerna. "In response, the law enforcement community banded together to expose the cowardly thugs responsible for that heinous attack and hold them accountable. Yesterday’s indictment and charges by information are a first step in that process, as we continue to work collectively to ensure that justice is served."
The Source: Information in this article comes from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Texas.