Officials have brought charges against a twelfth suspect in the attack on a Fort Worth-area ICE facility. He is currently wanted by the FBI.
Benjamin Hanil Song, a 32-year old from Dallas, allegedly took part in an “organized attack” against an ICE detention center in Alvarado during Independence Day, according to a release from Nancy Larson, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas.
Assailants in black body armor surrounded the ICE Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado late on July 4, as The Dallas Express previously reported. Gunmen ambushed law enforcement, shooting an Alvarado police officer in the neck and firing at ICE corrections officers.
Song — from Dallas — allegedly purchased four guns connected to the shooting, according to the release, including two “AR-style” rifles found at the scene. He also reportedly bought the rifle found that night in the vehicle of Bradford Morris — another suspect, a male who goes by “Meagan Morris.” Additionally, Song is said to have purchased the pistol officials found in suspect Joy Gibson’s backpack.
He is charged with three counts of attempted murder of federal agents and three counts of firing a gun during a violent crime. Officials charged 10 other suspects with the same crimes.
When the suspects fled from the ICE facility, police arrested 10 of them, as The Dallas Express reported. But, according to the release, officers did not find Song that night.
Song’s cell phone location suggested he was within “several hundred meters” of the facility, starting during the attack and ending after dark the next day.
“I believe that Song was hiding in the woods until dark the day after the shooting before fleeing the area,” an FBI special agent wrote in a criminal complaint obtained by The Dallas Express.
A white Mercedes-Benz registered to one of his relatives was later found on Morris’ block on July 6. Surveillance footage from DFW International Airport reportedly captured Song driving the vehicle on May 23.
The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to Song’s arrest. He is Asian, with black hair and brown eyes. He stands 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 150 lbs.
Song is considered “armed and dangerous,” according to his wanted poster. Anyone with information should call 1-800-CALL-FBI, visit tips.fbi.gov, or contact the nearest American embassy or consulate.
Song served in the United States Marine Corps Reserves from 2011 to 2016 and received an “other than honorable discharge,” according to the complaint.
On the night of the attack, he traveled to the ICE facility with Morris, according to the complaint. A “cooperating defendant” said the gunfire during the attack was consistent with a gun Song had purchased.
“The quick action and professionalism of our state and local law enforcement officers in the immediate aftermath of the shooting resulted in the prompt capture of ten of the assailants,” Larson said in the release. “Though Song escaped the scene by hiding overnight, he will be relentlessly pursued until he is in custody.”
