The FBI has begun investigating a shooting incident at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in San Antonio which took place early on Tuesday.
The incident happened at two different facilities, with the first shots fired around 3 a.m. local time. At about the same time, shots were also fired at the second building located nearby where an ICE contractor was located, the FBI has said.
The incident did not result in any injuries despite ICE officers being inside one of the facilities, CNN reports.
“We had federal employees who were present, who although they were not hit by the rounds fired, by the grace of God. Had the bullets gone 2 inches in another direction, we could be here today talking about the murder of a federal official,” Christopher Combs, FBI special agent in charge for San Antonio, said during a news conference.
Even though the shooting took place only days after 680 undocumented immigrants were arrested by ICE in a Mississippi raid, authorities have not said the incident was connected to last week’s arrests.
Combs noted that an investigation has been opened as an “assault on a federal official case” and the crime scene is being currently processed by the bureau, whose agents are looking at surveillance footage to determine what happened.
Combs also said that the shots were fired by an unknown number of individuals and vehicles, but that he doesn’t “think there is a question that they knew which floors the ICE offices were on.”
“To fire indiscriminately into any building, let alone a federal facility, is not an act of protest, it’s an act of violence. We are concerned that there could be additional attacks,” he said.
Both FBI and ICE officials have expressed concerns that more violence could be incited by political rhetoric “and misinformation that various politicians, media outlets and activist groups recklessly disseminate to the American people regarding the ICE mission.”
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