The parents of the 29-year-old gunman who opened fire on a a Dallas immigration facility in September told police their son was “completely normal” before he moved to Washington state and returned home several years ago believing he had radiation sickness, according to newly released records.
Joshua Jahn had begun wearing cotton gloves to avoid contact with plastic and practiced target shooting with a newly purchased rifle in Oklahoma a month before the deadly rooftop attack on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, according to a report written by a Fairview Police Department officer.
Jahn killed two detainees and wounded another before taking his own life in the Sept. 24 shooting.
The records, obtained by The Associated Press through an open records request, reveal no clues about what may have motivated the attack. Federal authorities said previously that Jahn wrote “ANTI-ICE” on a bullet and left handwritten notes indicating he wanted to ambush and terrorize ICE agents.
The new records show that on the day of the shooting, Jahn’s parents told the FBI he would “occasionally discuss current events” with his mother but rarely engaged in conversations. His parents described him as a “loner” who was “obsessed” with artificial intelligence technology.
According to the documents, Jahn appeared to regress after moving back to Texas. His parents stated he was 'completely normal' until his return from Washington, which he left due to an inability to retain employment. They listed his obsession with believing he was ‘allergic to plastic’ as a further concern.
Photographs from the scene of the shooting showed a car affixed with a map depicting radioactive fallout in the U.S. The documents also detail his parents' troubled dynamic and lack of communication with their son, who had withdrawn into a world of video games while living at home.
Just a month before his actions at the ICE facility, Jahn had practiced shooting with his father, who was unaware of his son's recent gun purchase. Despite having considerable online activity, where he amassed over 11,000 hours on first-person shooter games, Jahn did not have any diagnosed mental health disorders.
With ongoing investigations into his motives and past behavior, the tragic events continue to shed light on the complexities of individual mental health and familial relationships.
