Politicians and commentators rushed to assign a motive in a Wednesday morning shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dallas, inflaming debates about whether left-wing or right-wing ideology is more to blame for political violence.

One person was killed and two others were in critical condition after a lone gunman, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot, opened fire on the facility.

The gunman was later identified by authorities as Joshua Jahn, 29, of Collin County, Texas. No ICE agents were killed or wounded in the attack, officials said, but one detainee was killed and two others were hurt. The detainee killed was reportedly a citizen of Mexico.

Earlier in the day, with scant details known about the shooting, figures in both parties quickly stepped in to comment, underscoring deep political tensions that have only been exacerbated by the assassination earlier this month of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was killed while speaking at a college campus in Utah.

“The obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop,” Vice President Vance posted on the social platform X soon after news of the shooting broke. “I'm praying for everyone hurt in this attack and for their families.”

Democrats tore into Vance, suggesting he was misrepresenting the dynamics at play for the sake of boosting arguments favorable to his political aims.

“Leave it to this administration to use a shooting against immigrant detainees to score political points and further provoke violence. We have to get guns off our streets and reject xenophobic and anti-immigrant sentiment that makes all of us less safe,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.)

© The Hill