A grand jury handed down the first federal indictments in connection with the July 4 shooting at a North Texas immigration detention center Wednesday, according to court records. Several defendants were also indicted for state charges earlier this month, according to Johnson County court records.
Autumn Hill, 30, and Zachary Evetts, 36, were indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on three counts of attempted murder of officers and employees of the United States, three counts of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and one count of providing material support to terrorists.
A third person, 38-year-old Daniel Sanchez Estrada, was charged with corruptly concealing a document or record and conspiracy to conceal documents, all federal charges.
Patrick McLain, Evetts' attorney, said his client has already pleaded not guilty to the charges. Evetts, he said, was exercising his First Amendment rights while protesting current immigration policy at the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detention center, and there's no evidence he fired shots.
"He's disappointed that the political pressures are on U.S. attorneys these days to pursue charges that, in the ordinary course of practice in this day and age, would not see the light of a courtroom because more prudent and balanced leaders in the Department of Justice would prevent those things from happening," McLain said.
Those indicted in state court, along with Evetts and Hill, were Savanna Batten, Nathan Baumann, Seth Sikes, Joy Gibson, Meagan Morris, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, Ines Soto, Benjamin Song, Lynette Sharp, Rebecca Morgan, Dario Sanchez and Susan Kent.
Evetts, Hill, Batten, Baumann, Sikes, Gibson, Morris, Rueda, the Sotos and Song are suspected of being at the scene of the shooting. They are charged in state court with aggravated assault of a public servant with a deadly weapon, engaging in organized criminal activity and terrorism — but Song is charged with aiding in the commission of terrorism.
Morgan, Sharp and Kent, who were not at the scene of the shooting, are charged in state court with engaging in organized criminal activity by smuggling persons and hindering the prosecution of terrorism.
Sanchez, also not at the scene of the shooting, was charged in state court earlier this year with hindering the prosecution of terrorism and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
Ines Soto’s attorney declined to comment. KERA reached out to attorneys for the other defendants and will update this story with any response.
In a court hearing last month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cureton found probable cause existed to formally charge those arrested, and ordered those facing federal charges to remain in jail until a potential trial.
The charges stem from the night 11 people dressed in all black shot fireworks at the ICE Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado — south of Fort Worth — before correctional officers called 911, according to court records.
Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross arrived at the scene minutes later, and several people began to flee on foot and ignore verbal commands. Gross fell after a bullet struck him in the neck, but he fired three rounds in response, according to an FBI agent’s testimony. Gross is now back on duty.
Prosecutors accused Evetts, along with defendant Nathan Baumann, of spray painting and damaging cars in the detention center parking lot. Evetts was arrested by police from a nearby town while walking along the highway. Police say they found Evetts with a black balaclava mask, a pair of tactical style gloves and a pair of safety goggles.
Hill was arrested the day after the shooting at a Dallas home in which she lived with Morris. Authorities describe Morris’ house as a staging location before those arrested went to Prairieland. Morris disputed the accusation in an interview with KERA News.
The criminal complaint alleged on July 6, Sanchez Estrada took a box containing anti-government and anti-law enforcement documents from his home in Garland and left it in front of an uninvolved person’s apartment in Denton. Sanchez Estrada was arrested later that afternoon during a traffic stop in the city.
Hill, Evetts and Sanchez Estrada were charged separately from other co-defendants, and are scheduled to appear again in court next Wednesday.
There are 17 defendants in total, including those who only face state criminal charges. Federal prosecutors and other defendants allege Song, 32, was the only shooter and the leader of the group.
Authorities have called the July 4 shooting an “ambush” and a “coordinated attack” planned days in advance, citing as evidence group chats on the encrypted messaging app Signal, weapons, gunshot residue, tactical gear and anti-government posters allegedly made by some defendants.
Prosecutors describe them as a cell of people associated with the "antifa" movement, who hold antifascist, anarchist, Marxist and socialist beliefs, and who are anti-law enforcement and anti-ICE.
Despite not being a centralized group, President Donald Trump designated Antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization” last month.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently announced his office will be launching undercover investigations into “left-wing political violence” in the state, citing both the Alvarado shooting and last month’s shooting at the Dallas ICE office that killed two immigration detainees as motivating the investigations.
Toluwani Osibamowo is KERA’s law and justice reporter. Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org.
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