'He was completely normal': Parents reveal Dallas ICE sniper's behavior before deadly attack

DALLAS - A new report provides details about the troubled recent past of the sniper who killed two people and injured one in last month's attack outside a Dallas ICE facility. His parents told reporters they noticed significant changes in his behavior before the attack.

New Details About Dallas ICE Shooting Sniper

The parents of 29-year-old gunman Joshua Jahn say his demeanor changed after he returned from a period of time in Washington, though they say he was "completely normal" before then. 

Records released to The Associated Press indicate Jahn believed he had radiation sickness. His parents said he also began to wear cotton gloves to avoid contact with plastic. 

Just one month before the deadly rooftop attack, he started practicing target shooting with a newly purchased rifle in Oklahoma. 

New records also state that Jahn's parents told the FBI on the day of the shooting that their son would occasionally discuss current events but rarely engaged in deep conversations.

Dallas ICE Shooting Motive

Investigators have evidence showing the gunman was targeting ICE agents. The words "ANTI-ICE" were found engraved on a bullet, and handwritten notes expressing his desire to ambush and terrorize ICE agents were recovered as evidence. However, the victims were not ICE agents. Instead, he struck detainees who were arriving in a transport van outside the facility.

Authorities say the sniper opened fire from the roof of a nearby building at the Dallas ICE facility early Sept. 24, striking three detainees before taking his own life. This deadly shooting marks the latest in a series of violent attacks targeting federal immigration agencies. 

One of the detainees was killed, and two others were critically injured, though no law enforcement officers were hurt.

The victims were identified as Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, 32, who died protecting another detainee from the gunfire, according to his lawyers, and Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, who also died shortly after the shooting. The third victim, Jose Andres Bornones-Molina, recovered in the hospital before being transported to a different facility.

Who Was the Sniper in the ICE Shooting?

Sources identified the shooter as Joshua Jahn, 29, who had ties to North Texas and Oklahoma. Investigators said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound as agents approached him. Following the shooting, facilities in Dallas and across the country have stepped up security.

Local perspective:

Jahn's parents say he was not diagnosed with any mental health disorders.

Doctor Alex Del Carmen, a criminologist, is skeptical of the parents' claim of Jahn being "completely normal."

"I just don't buy the idea that this person was "normal" and then, all of a sudden, goes through a transformation once they go to Washington state and comes back as a different person," said Del Carmen.

Investigators say the bolt action rifle was purchased legally.

"It tells you that, you know, the person probably was delusional, that they exhibited some degree of paranoia, schizophrenia, and that and that this person likely was inhibiting signs that they had already read things that may have prompted him in this case to essentially feel that he was affected by that, right?" said Del Carmen.

"And so, in this case, what you see is you see this person beginning the process of planning an event. He may not even be sure what that event was at the time, but he was planning something, and therefore he's beginning to acquire the tools in which he's going to exhibit that rebellion towards society."