Law enforcement accounts of what happened outside a North Texas Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility — where an Alvarado police officer was shot in the neck — are graphic and disturbing.
But many questions are still unanswered. In years past, some of the people arrested soon after the July 4 attack at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado had been involved in peaceful protests. What happened that night was very different.
How they came together, what exactly was planned — and by whom — is still not clear. If law enforcement authorities know, that information hasn’t yet been made public. One suspect allegedly claimed he'd learned about the event via a Signal group chat he joined after a protest. And at least one defendant who showed up reportedly told authorities he didn't know there would be any violence at the demonstration.
Officials have described the incident as an egregious and coordinated attack against law enforcement. Days after the shooting at the detention center in Alvarado, a man with an assault rifle fired dozens of rounds at federal agents and a U.S. Border Patrol facility in McAllen, injuring a police officer, before authorities shot and killed him, according to the Associated Press. Authorities identified the shooter as Ryan Louis Mosqueda, believed to be 27, who they said shot at agents exiting the building, which is near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Federal court documents that were unsealed earlier this week say that people wearing body armor and black military-style clothing descended on the Prairieland ICE detention facility in Alvarado late at night on July 4. They carried high-powered flashlights, two-way radios and set off fireworks toward the detention center, according to the court documents.
They allegedly carried cans of spray paint and wrote “ICE Pig” and “Traitor” on cars in the parking lot. A person in a green mask standing in the woods reportedly signaled as correctional officers approached the people spraying graffiti.
Department of Homeland Security officers at the center called 911. When an Alvarado police officer arrived, the shooting began. Court documents say two people in the woods, including the person wearing a green mask, shot about 30 rounds of bullets with AR-15 style rifles. The Alvarado police officer was shot in the neck and is expected to recover from his injuries.
Court documents also stated that a Johnson County Sheriff’s Office detective pulled over a red Hyundai van that was leaving the scene. The driver, Meagan Morris, also known as Bradford Morris, allegedly had with her a black pistol, a loaded magazine a two-way radio and an AR-15. There were also bulletproof vests and a ballistics helmet in the vehicle, according to court documents. Morris was taken into custody.
Police said they found Elizabeth Soto, Ines Soto, Nathan Baumann, Marciela Rueda, Seth Sikes, Joy Gibson and Savannah Batten walking at an intersection and arrested them for their involvement with the shooting. Police reported they found firearms, magazines with ammunition, twelve sets of body armor and flyers that said “fight ICE terror with class war” and “free all political prisoners.” Autumn Hill, also known as Cameron Arnold, was arrested the next day while police served a search warrant at Morris’ address in Oak Cliff – the staging location for the shooting according to court records.
Law enforcement reportedly arrested another man, identified as Zachary Evetts, who they said was walking about three miles from the ICE facility dressed in black, “military style” clothing. When he was arrested, Venus Police Department officers reported they found “a black balaclava mask, a pair of tactical style gloves, and a pair of safety goggles.”
When asked where he was coming from, Evetts said something like “I don’t know,” according to the federal complaint.
Another suspect, Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada, was arrested in Denton.
And a 12th suspect was still at large Thursday. He was identified as Benjamin Hanil Song, a former Marine reservist. He was charged Wednesday night with three counts of attempted murder of federal agents and three counts of discharging a firearm during a violent act. Song is accused of buying four of the guns found in connection with the shooting, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for North Texas.
It’s not clear from court documents who fired the shots from the woods at law enforcement. All but one of the people identified as suspects are charged with three counts of attempted murder of a federal officer and three counts of discharging a firearm in relation to and in furtherance of a crime of violence. At least three of the group’s members have a history of protest-related arrests.
So far, Daniel Sanchez Estrada has only been charged with tampering with evidence and conspiracy to tamper with evidence in an official proceeding.
Court records stated that Rueda called her mother from the Johnson County jail and told her to contact Sanchez. The next day, according to court records, Rueda told Sanchez over the phone to tow her car from Morris’ address and “move whatever you need to move at the house.”
FBI agents reported they later observed Sanchez leave his home in Garland carrying multiple packages from the house that he put into his Chevy Silverado. Agents said he left a box at an apartment door in Denton.
Federal agents served a search warrant at the Denton apartment complex. According to court records and an ICE statement , a box that appears to be the package Sanchez dropped off contained a planning document for civil unrest with tactics and anti-law enforcement and anti-government sentiments, including “Organizing for Attack! Insurrectionary Anarchy” according to a post from ICE.
Sanchez is married to one of the group members who was at the Prairieland detention center and got a permanent residency card in 2024 after living in the country under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, according to ICE’s post.
Arrest History
Batten, Soto and Song have been arrested previously on protest-related charges according to court records.
Batten, 31, was previously arrested at an “Occupy Dallas” protest at a Chase Bank in Dallas in 2011, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. It was part of the broader Occupy Wall Street movement protesting economic inequality.
The document states Batten blocked patrons from entering or leaving the bank by sitting on the property and locking arms with accomplices. The group allegedly leaned up against the bank doors, locking patrons inside. A bank employee and a police officer who witnessed the incident warned the group to leave, but they refused, according to the affidavit.
Batten was charged with criminal trespass, a Class B misdemeanor. She agreed to 24 hours of community service, after which the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the case.
In 2018, Batten was one of five people arrested after Dallas police said she and other protesters blocked a highway service road and one man sat down in traffic.
Police responded to the protest on June 30, 2018, where as many as 80 people stood outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas on Interstate 35E, protesting to “abolish ICE.”
Dallas police said the protest started peacefully before demonstrators blocked off lanes of the service road to I-35E. Officers said protestors refused to move when asked, leading to the arrest of five people, including Batten.
Batten was charged with obstructing a highway, but the charge was dropped in 2019 after she completed a pretrial diversion program, according to court records.
Soto, a 40-year-old from Fort Worth, was one of two people arrested at a protest in 2016 against white supremacist Richard Spencer ahead of Spencer's speech at Texas A&M University.
The arrest report stated a group of five people, including Soto, allegedly attempted to enter the Memorial Student Center where Spencer was speaking, according to the website My Aggie Nation. Soto allegedly started to yell and was uncooperative with the officer.
While Soto was being handcuffed, the four other people in the group tried to interfere, and one allegedly hit the officer in the face.
Soto was charged with evading arrest or detention and resisting arrest, according to Brazos County jail records. He got out on a $10,000 bond.
Song was also a named defendant in a lawsuit brought by a Christian nationalist group with a history of protesting drag shows in 2023. According to the suit, Song was among the counterprotestors with the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club providing armed security to performers at a Fort Worth drag performance. The group wore black masks and tactical gear.
The New Columbia Movement, described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group, sued Song and two others for what it called a "coordinated attack" that violated the group's First Amendment right to protest.
That civil suit is on hold as criminal cases against others arrested at the counterprotest continue to play out, according to court records. Song was not one of the people arrested, and was removed from the suit in July of last year, according to court records.
The former U.S. Marine Corps reservist was also arrested in Austin in August 2020 during a protest according to Travis County court records. Song, who allegedly was among a group of protesters who were blocking a roadway, raised his rifle into a firing position and targeted an Austin police officer according to court records. He backed up into a crowd of people after the officers drew their weapons and pointed them at Song.
Song was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a peace officer. A grand jury declined to indict Song. The Austin Police Department was ordered to return items the department confiscated from Song, including a semi-automatic rifle, semi-automatic pistol, two loaded rifle magazines and a green gas mask.
What’s Next
Ten suspects are in custody at the Johnson County jail under $10 million bonds. Song still hasn’t been taken into custody.
An organization called the DFW Support Committee is fundraising for legal fees on the website givesendgo.
The committee is “a group of loved ones, friends and comrades” of the defendants, according to the fundraiser’s description. KERA reached out to the committee via email but didn’t hear back before this article was published.
The fundraiser, which has a goal of $20,000, has received about $13,000 in donations as of Thursday evening. Donors left comments urging that the defendants be freed.
“They are fighting for the vulnerable and oppressed who cannot fight for themselves!” an anonymous donor wrote. “They have committed no crimes. The country is at fault for enacting such atrocities in its citizens and this freedom group is nothing but a set of heroes.”
Nancy Larson, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, told reporters at a press conference on Monday that the suspects will face consequences in court.
“Those who use violence against law enforcement officers will be found and they will be prosecuted with the toughest criminal statutes and penalties that we have available to us,” Larson said.
KERA's Toluwani Osibamowo, Penelope Rivera, The Denton Record Chronicle's Brooke Colombo and The Texas Standard's Zachary Suri contributed to this report
Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
