The Alvarado police lieutenant shot and injured outside the Prairieland ICE Detention Center testified Tuesday that he feared for his life when he responded to a July 4 protest in Alvarado.
Lt. Thomas Gross was the first witness called to the stand Tuesday in the trial of nine people accused of playing a role in his shooting. He told jurors he believed he was walking into an ambush.
“I knew my life was in danger,” Gross said from the witness stand.
Video from Gross’ body camera and dash camera were shown in court. Body camera footage showed Gross driving to a call about a disturbance at the ICE facility that rainy night.
As he arrived, Gross saw at least two people dressed in all black — including one with an AR-15-style rifle — running away, and he yelled at them to stop.
In a matter of seconds, someone could be heard yelling "get to the rifles" before a flurry of gunfire sent Gross falling to the ground. He was shot once in his neck, and the bullet exited through his back, he told jurors.
Gross was able to return gunfire before calling for help.
He said he spent three to four hours at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth receiving treatment, which included pain medicine and internal and external stitches. The wound still hurts occasionally, Gross testified.
“It’s a day I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life,” he said.
Medical records were not presented during his testimony, something defense attorneys have previously argued about in court filings.
The testimony came shortly after opening statements in the trial of nine people accused in the nonfatal July 4 shooting. The defendants say it was a noise demonstration outside the building in support of those inside the Prairieland Detention Center. The Justice Department says it was a "coordinated attack" meant to kill ICE agents.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Smith told jurors during his opening that they'll see closed-circuit camera footage, DNA evidence and fingerprint analysis during the trial. He also said Lynette Sharp, John Thomas and Susan Kent are expected to testify that Benjamin Song confessed to shooting an Alvarado police officer.
"'Get to the rifles.' Those are the words that defendant Benjamin Song shouted before he shot an officer and two detention officers," Smith told jurors.
Government officials call the trial the first-ever federal domestic terrorism case associated with “antifa," short for anti-fascist. President Donald Trump declared the ideology a domestic terror threat last year.
Smith described antifa as a decentralized movement made up of small "cells," with anarchist and socialist components. He said Song led what is known as an "affinity group" that included defendants Meagan Morris and Autumn Hill.
“Make no mistake, there was nothing peaceful about what happened on July 4th," Smith said. "They weren't there to protest ICE. They were there to make a statement."
Defense attorneys pushed back on the government's characterization of events, trying to distinguish each defendant's alleged role in the case. They also urged the jury to leave politics out of their verdict.
Hill's attorney, James Luster, said the group planned used fireworks so detainees inside could hear. Once Hill saw detainees approach the window and smile, Luster said, she left before the violence broke out.
"They wanted the inmates to experience it with them," Luster said. "It was supposed to be edgy. But it was not supposed to come to this."
Christopher Tolbert, attorney for Savanna Batten, said his client did not bring a gun, paint, body armor or fireworks. She was only there to express her political beliefs and show support, he said.
"In America, we don't prosecute our citizens for their political beliefs," he told jurors.
Phillip Hayes, the attorney for alleged shooter Benjamin Song, reserved his opening statement until later in the trial when the defense presents its case.
The second witness to testify Tuesday was Cindy Harp, a contract correctional officer at Prairieland who’s since left that job after nine years.
Harp had accompanied another officer responding to a disturbance outside when she said she heard shouts from people on the other side of the facility’s razor wire fence. They were dressed in all black, shouting in Spanish and asking her whether she was proud of herself for working as a detention officer, she said.
She told the group they needed to leave and instructed a coworker to call the police. Harp said she and another officer saw two more people dressed in black running near a guard structure a few hundred yards away.
Around the same time, Gross pulled up in his car, and the shooting unfolded, according to video and testimony.
"All you hear is bullets going off, and you can hear the officer being shot,” Harp told jurors, starting to cry.
After being cross-examined by defense attorneys, Harp later said she saw the officer draw his weapon first. Harp was not injured.
Tuesday's proceedings come after a day of jury selection marked by technical issues that disrupted public view of the proceedings.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman swore in a 12-person jury Monday after he declared a mistrial during jury selection last week. He accused defense attorney MarQuetta Clayton of wearing what he called a "politically charged" shirt depicting American civil rights protesters that he said could have influenced potential jurors.
Pittman singlehandedly conducted jury selection Monday following the incident, with questions submitted by prosecutors and defense attorneys. The judge made each attorney stand up so he could inspect their clothing before bringing in the jury pool.
The court held jury selection in Fort Worth, but members of the public could only watch the proceedings on a television screen from an overflow room in the Dallas federal courthouse. It will serve as the only overflow space for the duration of the trial, Pittman said, because his courtroom in Fort Worth is too small.
The livestream's audio and video often cut out throughout the proceeding — including while Pittman seated the final jury.
Family, friends and supporters of the defendants were outside the courthouse both last week and during Monday's jury selection.
"This case raises serious constitutional concerns," defendant Maricela Rueda's sister Diana Rueda said Monday. "When protests are treated as terrorism, these protections are at risk for all of us."
Pittman's questions for potential jurors included whether they had any negative or positive experiences with ICE, their opinions on antifa, whether they had attended any political protests, how they felt about people bringing guns to protests and whether they had any bias toward transgender people. Several defendants in the case are trans.
Upon a defense attorney's request — seemingly in response to Clayton's shirt issue — Pittman also asked potential jurors whether a painting in the courtroom of the Texas Rangers arresting 19th century outlaw Sam Bass would affect their ability to hear out members of the Texas Rangers who will take the witness stand during trial. No one from the jury pool spoke up.
Pittman said he expected the trial to finish by March 11.
The defendants
Prosecutors accuse Song, 32, of being the group's leader and the lone shooter the night of July 4. Several of the guns found at the scene were tied to Song, according to court records.
Court documents allege the house where Meagan Morris, 41, and Autumn Hill, 30, lived was the site of planning and a "gear check" ahead of the defendants' trip to Prairieland. Morris said the house was just a spot to meet and carpool.
Husband and wife Ines Soto, 41, and Elizabeth Soto, 40, were arrested while leaving Prairieland shortly after gunshots rang out.
An FBI investigator claimed in a preliminary hearing last year that the Sotos' home had a printing press to produce zines and other literature. Ines Soto also sent several messages in Signal group chats encouraging more disruptive forms of protest, the agent said, and allegedly brought first aid kits meant to help with gunshot wounds and other traumatic injuries.
The Sotos rode in a car with 32-year-old Savanna Batten to Prairieland, court records allege.
Daniel Sanchez Estrada, 39, is accused of dropping a box of "zines,” or DIY published booklets, and other insurrectionary “antifa materials” at a friend's apartment in Denton in an attempt to conceal incriminating evidence. Prosecutors allege this was after 33-year-old Maricela Rueda, who's married to Sanchez Estrada, called him from jail with instructions.
Zachary Evetts, 36, is accused of breaking away from the main group that arrived to Prairieland and spray painting and damaging vehicles and a guard structure in the parking lot.
The other defendant accused of vandalism, Nathan Baumann, pleaded guilty and is expected to testify during trial.
Hill, Song, Batten, Morris, Rueda, Zachary Evetts, Elizabeth Soto, and Ines Soto are charged with rioting, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive and use and carry of an explosive — the explosive being fireworks, according to the latest indictment in the case.
Song is also charged with attempted murder of officers and employees of the United States, and discharging a firearm during, in relation to, and in furtherance of a crime of violence. Hill, Evetts, Morris and Rueda are charged with aiding and abetting.
Sanchez Estrada and Rueda are charged with conspiracy to conceal documents. Sanchez Estrada is also charged with corruptly concealing a document or record.
Song, Hill, Evetts, Morris, and Rueda could face anywhere from 10 years to life in prison if convicted. Batten and the Sotos face 10-50 years in federal prison. Sanchez Estrada faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each count.
Additional reporting from KERA's Penelope Rivera.
Toluwani Osibamowo is KERA’s law and justice reporter. Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org.
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