A Mexican man who was among three people shot at a Dallas immigration field office last week died today, becoming the second person killed in the attack, officials said.
The family of Miguel Ángel García-Hernández said he died after being removed from life support, according to a statement provided through the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil rights organisation. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said García-Hernández died early today. The agency said he was 31, but LULAC said he was 32.
Authorities have said the gunman in the September 24 attack, Joshua Jahn, 29, fired indiscriminately from a nearby roof onto the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and a van holding detainees in a gated area. Authorities have said Jahn hated the US government and wanted to incite terror by killing federal agents.
No ICE personnel were hurt in the shooting, and Jahn fatally shot himself following the assault.
Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, 37, a detainee from El Salvador, was also killed.
The attack happened as heightened immigration enforcement has generated backlash against ICE agents and stirred fear in immigrant communities across the country.
Stephany Gauffeny, García-Hernández's wife, said in the statement that her husband “was a good man, a loving father, and the provider for our family”.
“We had just bought our first home together, and he worked hard every single day to make sure our children had what they needed,” she said. “His death is a senseless tragedy that has left our family shattered. I do not know how to explain to our children that their father is gone.”
In an earlier interview with WFAA television, she said her husband was a “goofball” who liked to make people laugh and was always willing to help people.
Gauffeny is expecting their fifth child, LULAC said.
Eric Cedillo, a Dallas attorney who has been helping Gauffeny since the shooting, said she had filed a petition seeking a green card for her husband. He said García-Hernández came to the US when he was about 13 and has lived in the Dallas area since then.
García-Hernández was being brought to the ICE facility the morning of the shooting after an immigration detainer was placed for him following an August arrest. Gauffeny told WFAA that he was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated and evading arrest in Tarrant County. She said the latter charge was dropped, and Cedillo said García-Hernández served time on the former.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said today that her administration helped García-Hernández's mother with the necessary paperwork to allow her to travel to Dallas. Sheinbaum also said her government asked US authorities for an investigation and that Mexico would get involved if there was any kind of violation of García-Hernández's rights.
Following ICE procedures, the detainees were restrained inside the van, an ICE official said, adding that federal agents ran into gunfire to remove them and render aid.
Guzman-Fuentes' sister, Alba Rubida Guzman, said he left El Salvador when he was 17 years old and worked in the US for two decades.
After his detention he resigned himself to leaving the US His wife planned to meet him in El Salvador, and then they both planned to move to Mexico, where her father had a construction job waiting for him, the sister told Channel 12 in Jiquilisco in south-central El Salvador.
“He dedicated himself to work, his family, and whenever he could he helped us,” she said.
SHARE ME