2019 Dallas courthouse shooting

Last updated

2019 Dallas courthouse shooting
Part of terrorism in the United States
Earl Cabell Federal Building, cropped.jpg
Earl Cabell Federal Building, the location where the shooting took place.
USA Texas location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Dallas
Dallas (Texas)
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Dallas
Dallas (the United States)
Location Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Coordinates 32°47′42″N96°47′56″W / 32.794959°N 96.798860°W / 32.794959; -96.798860
DateJune 17, 2019
8:40 pm (MDT (UTC−5))
Attack type
Shooting
Weapons AR-15 style rifle
Deaths1 (the perpetrator)
Injured1
PerpetratorBrian Isaack Clyde

On June 17, 2019, a shooting occurred at the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse in Dallas, Texas, United States. No law enforcement officers or civilians were injured in the shooting, though one person sustained a superficial injury when she was taking cover. The shooter, identified as Brian Isaack Clyde, was then shot and killed by one or more federal officers.

Contents

Shooting

A man, identified as Brian Isaack Clyde, opened fire near Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse, before making his way to the glass door of the building and opening fire inside. Three officers from the Federal Protective Service returned fire. [1] Following an exchange of gunfire, in which Clyde was mortally wounded by one or more federal officers, he ran towards the parking lot and fired five more rounds before he collapsed. Federal officers performed CPR and took Clyde to the Baylor University Medical Center, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) from the courthouse, [2] where he was pronounced deceased. [3] Authorities later detonated his vehicle. [1] [4] At the time of the shooting, Clyde was carrying more than 150 rounds of ammunition. [5]

Photojournalist Tom Fox, who works for The Dallas Morning News, was at the courthouse on assignment to take pictures of a defendant in a charter school fraud case when the shooting started; he was able to capture two photos of the suspect through a telephoto zoom lens before taking cover behind a pillar adjacent to the entrance. [6] He took a video and additional photos of the scene after the suspect had been shot by law enforcement officers. [6]

Perpetrator

Brian Isaack Clyde (September 30, 1996 – June 17, 2019), a 22-year-old male, [7] was a private first class in the U.S. Army, and was honorably discharged [5] after serving as an infantryman from August 2015 to February 2017. [8] According to The Dallas Morning News , he was stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. [8] He was not deployed to a war zone during his time in the military. [5]

At the time of the shooting, Clyde had recently graduated from Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas, with an associate degree in applied science in nondestructive testing technology. [8] [9]

Although Clyde had not been of "investigative interest" to the FBI, his half-brother had contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) three years before the shooting, alleging that Clyde was suicidal and had a fascination with guns. The FBI did not follow up on the tip because there was no specific threat specified. [10] Investigations into his social media history took place. [8] [11]

Motive

Clyde appears to have self-radicalized online, [12] posting memes related to the incel subculture that appeals to men who feel lonely and alienated, and, ultimately, getting "sucked into a hateful vortex that tells them that their lives are only valuable if they go out bringing death" to others. [13] [14] [15] [16]

Clyde had uploaded extremist far-right memes including ideas about the Confederate States and Nazism. [17] [13] [15] Some of his posts were transphobic and others were anti-feminist. [17] In April 2019 he posted a meme suggesting that combining eco-friendly and libertarian ideas with far-right authoritarianism, symbolized by what the Daily Beast describes as "a green flag with a Nazi swastika in the middle", could be the "solution to all of our nation’s political problems." [17]

Clyde's family believed that it was a case of suicide by cop. [18]

Aftermath

A Maryland Air Force base was inspired by the Dallas shooting to initiate a program teaching personnel to recognize the warning signs that "introverted, sexless individuals" may be drawn to the "incel" online subculture. [14] [10] [16]

On March 18, 2020, a man pleaded guilty to threatening to assassinate the governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham. He cited Clyde as an inspiration for his desired attack. [19]

On May 4, 2020, Tom Fox was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for his photographs of several people fleeing, Clyde himself, and Clyde being attended to, respectively. [20] However, the prize went to Reuters for their photography of the 2019 Hong Kong protests. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonnie and Clyde</span> American bank robbers in the 1930s

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut "Champion" Barrow were American bandits and serial killers who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. The couple were known for their bank robberies and multiple murders, although they preferred to rob small stores or rural funeral homes. Their exploits captured the attention of the American press and its readership during what is occasionally referred to as the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934. They were ambushed by police and shot dead in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. They are believed to have murdered at least nine police officers and four civilians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Protective Service (United States)</span> US Federal law enforcement agency

The Federal Protective Service (FPS) is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It is also "the federal agency charged with protecting and delivering integrated law enforcement and security services to facilities owned or leased by the General Services Administration (GSA)"—over 9,000 buildings—and their occupants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shootout</span> Combat between two parties using firearms

A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is an armed confrontation entailing firearms between armed parties using guns, always entailing intense disagreement(s) between the fighting parties. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to describe combat situations primarily using firearms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earle Cabell</span> American politician (1906–1975)

Earle Cabell was a Texas politician who served as mayor of Dallas, Texas. Cabell was mayor at the time of the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy and was later a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse</span> Building in Dallas, Texas, United States

The Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse, named for former Dallas mayor Earle Cabell, is located in the Government District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. It houses the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which exercises original jurisdiction over 100 counties in North and West Texas; United States Bankruptcy and Magistrate Courts; a United States Attorney office; an IRS office; passport offices; and other federal offices. Built in 1971, it shares a wall with the Art Deco-style Federal Building, previously known as the Santa Fe Building. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Las Vegas courthouse shooting</span> Shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada

The Las Vegas courthouse shooting was an attack on January 4, 2010, in which a gunman opened fire in the lobby of the Lloyd D. George Federal District Courthouse in Las Vegas, Nevada. Two people were killed in the attack, including the gunman, who was identified by authorities as Johnny Lee Wicks, a 66-year-old man disgruntled over cuts to his Social Security benefits. Stanley W. Cooper, a 72-year-old court security officer, was also killed after a shotgun blast struck him in the chest. A 48-year-old deputy U.S. Marshal named Richard "Joe" Gardner was shot in the upper arm, chest, and head, with a total of eight pieces of buckshot entering his body, and hospitalized at the University Medical Center, but survived.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Post Office and Courthouse (Dallas, Texas)</span> Federal Government in North Ervay Street

The U.S. Post Office and Courthouse is an historic post office and courthouse building located at 400 North Ervay Street in the City Center District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). The historic building retains an operating post office on the ground level with apartments on upper floors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington Navy Yard shooting</span> Mass shooting in Washington, D.C.

The Washington Navy Yard shooting occurred on September 16, 2013, when 34-year-old Aaron Alexis fatally shot 12 people and injured three others in a mass shooting at the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), inside the Washington Navy Yard, in southeast Washington, D.C. The attack took place in the Navy Yard's Building 197; it began around 8:16 a.m. EDT and ended when police killed Alexis around 9:25 a.m. It is the deadliest mass shooting in Washington, D.C. history, as well as the second deadliest mass murder on a U.S. military base, behind the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtis Culwell Center attack</span> 2015 failed Texas terrorist attack

The Curtis Culwell Center attack was a failed terrorist attack on an exhibit featuring cartoon images of Muhammad at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, US on May 3, 2015, which ended in a shootout with police guarding the event, and the deaths of the two perpetrators. The attackers shot an unarmed Garland Independent School District (GISD) security officer in the ankle. Shortly after opening fire, both attackers were shot by an off-duty Garland police officer and killed by SWAT.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pulse nightclub shooting</span> 2016 mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, US

On June 12, 2016, 29-year-old Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States before Orlando Police officers fatally shot him after a three-hour standoff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 shooting of Dallas police officers</span> Mass shooting in Dallas, Texas

On July 7, 2016, Micah Xavier Johnson ambushed and shot police officers in Dallas, Texas, killing five, injuring nine others, and wounding two civilians. Johnson, a 25-year-old Army Reserve Afghan War veteran, was angry over white police shootings of black men. He shot the officers at the end of a protest against the recent killings by police of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Aztec High School shooting</span> School shooting in Aztec, New Mexico

On December 7, 2017, a school shooting occurred at Aztec High School in Aztec, New Mexico, United States. The perpetrator, William Atchison, a 21-year-old former student, entered the school in the morning disguised as a student and hid in the school restroom. He was discovered before he could launch a major attack, but fatally shot two students before killing himself. Investigators believe that the quick actions of the teachers in barricading doors to the classrooms helped prevent mass casualties.

Incel is a term associated with an online subculture of people who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one, and blame, objectify and denigrate women and girls as a result. The movement is strongly linked to misogyny. Originally coined as "invcel" around 1997 by a queer Canadian female student known as Alana, the spelling had shifted to "incel" by 1999, and the term later rose to prominence in the 2010s, following the influence of misogynistic terrorists Elliot Rodger and Alek Minassian.

A mass shooting occurred on Danforth Avenue in the Greektown neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada on the night of July 22, 2018. Faisal Hussain killed two people and wounded thirteen using a Smith & Wesson M&P .40-calibre handgun. He died by suicide after a shootout with Toronto Police Service (TPS) officers. Despite a year long investigation, authorities were unable to determine a motive for the shooting. They noted that Hussain had mental health issues and a long time obsession with violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting</span> Mass shooting in Gilroy, California

On July 28, 2019, a mass shooting occurred at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California. The gunman killed three people and wounded 17 others before killing himself after a shootout with responding police officers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midland–Odessa shootings</span> Spree shooting in Midland and Odessa, Texas

On August 31, 2019, a spree shooting occurred in the West Texas cities of Midland and Odessa, involving a gunman shooting multiple people from a vehicle. Eight people were killed, including the perpetrator, and twenty-five people were injured, including three police officers. It was the third major mass shooting to take place in the United States in August 2019, following the El Paso Walmart shooting and the Dayton shooting.

In late May and early June 2020, two ambush-style attacks occurred against security personnel and law enforcement officers in California. The attacks left two dead and injured three others.

On November 22, 2022, Andre Marcus Bing killed six co-workers and injured four others before killing himself, in retaliation for perceived workplace harassment at the Walmart Supercenter where he worked as a night-supervisor in Chesapeake, Virginia, United States. Bing's suicide note cited concern he was being "led by Satan" and asking forgiveness – while also mentioning cancer treatments and loneliness.

References

  1. 1 2 Bleiberg, Jake; Stengle, Jamie (June 18, 2019). "Masked gunman killed in shootout at Dallas courthouse". AP News. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  2. "Earle Cabell Federal Building to Baylor University Medical Center". Earle Cabell Federal Building to Baylor University Medical Center. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  3. Levenson, Eric; Vera, Amir (June 17, 2019). "FBI looking into suspected Dallas gunman's military and social media history". CNN . Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  4. Weiss, Debra Cassens (June 17, 2019). "Officers kill gunman firing on Dallas federal courthouse; news photographer snaps photos". ABA Journal. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 "The Latest: Family says Dallas court shooter wanted to die". AP News. June 19, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  6. 1 2 Chokshi, Niraj (June 18, 2019). "How a Dallas Photojournalist Captured an Image of a Gunman Mid-Attack" . The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 4, 2022. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  7. Burk, Jarred (June 17, 2019). "UPDATE: FBI identifies Dallas federal building shooter". KSWO. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Branham, Dana; Jaramillo, Cassandra (June 17, 2019). "What we know about Brian Clyde, the gunman who opened fire at the federal courthouse in downtown Dallas". Dallas News. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  9. "The Latest: Man who fired at Texas courthouse just graduated". AP News. June 17, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  10. 1 2 Bleiberg, Jake (June 20, 2019). "FBI got tip about Dallas courthouse shooter in 2016". AP News. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  11. "SUSPECT WHO OPENED FIRE AT A COURTHOUSE IN DALLAS MONDAY MORNING KILLED BY POLICE". KOOC . June 17, 2019. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  12. Krause, Kevin (June 22, 2019). "Dallas' 'lone wolf' shooting shows how we're always in danger, even with improved security". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  13. 1 2 Solomon, Dan (June 20, 2019). "How Did the Dallas Courthouse Gunman Get Radicalized?". Texas Monthly. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  14. 1 2 Brumfeild, Loyd (June 22, 2019). "Inspired by Dallas courthouse shooter, Air Force base circulates 'incel' warning signs". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  15. 1 2 Martelle, Scott (June 18, 2009). "A Thwarted Dallas Shooting goes Viral". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  16. 1 2 Perez, Chris (June 21, 2019). "Air Force warns about nationwide threat of 'involuntary celibates'". New York Post. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  17. 1 2 3 Weill, Kelly; Glawe, Justin (June 17, 2019). "Dallas Federal Building Shooter Posted Far-Right Memes About Nazis and Confederacy". Daily Beast . Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  18. Tarrant, Daniel; Emily, Jennifer (June 19, 2019). "Family of Dallas courthouse shooter Brian Clyde believes he wanted to be killed". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  19. Gallagher, Mike (March 18, 2020). "Man charged with threatening to kill governor". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  20. "Tom Fox of the Dallas Morning News". pulitzer.org. Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  21. "Photography Staff of Reuters". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved July 31, 2020.