An anti-ICE shooter who tragically killed one migrant and injured two others at a Dallas ICE facility on Wednesday has been identified as a previous marijuana enthusiast known for his indolent lifestyle, according to his former employer.
Joshua Jahn, 29—who opened fire from a rooftop targeting a group of migrants guided by federal agents before fatally turning the weapon on himself—had a brief stint at a legal cannabis farm in Benton City in 2017, where his ex-boss characterized him as a pot-obsessed drifter lacking ambition.
“He was really into weed. He wanted to immerse himself in that lifestyle and lived out of his car while he worked,” Ryan Sanderson, 49, the operator of Golden Leaf Farm, told The Post.
“He was just a young kid. After the harvest, he drove back to Texas,” he added.
Working under Sanderson during a three-week harvest season, Jahn displayed minimal interest in politics or anything beyond cannabis.
“He came to work, but he didn’t say much. He wasn’t particularly industrious,” Sanderson noted.
“Political discussions were never on our agenda; no one talked about that kind of stuff,” he remarked.
Jahn was part of a crew of 15, focused on “removing leaves while listening to music” during the harvest.
“Some people truly work hard, and others just go through the motions. He was one of those latter guys, probably because he was often high,” his supervisor reflected.
“I think what happened was that he was involved in weed distribution and came up here for the harvest job because of his passion for it, but that fizzled out,” Sanderson explained.
“Then he had to return to Texas; it wasn’t legal there. I heard he ended up working at a solar plant, which was quite a shift—definitely a tough job. He probably felt lost, lacking direction,” he continued.
Sanderson speculated that Jahn may have had ulterior motives for traveling to Washington for the temporary position.
“I found it odd for someone to drive so far for a short-term job. Now knowing his history of dealing cannabis back in Texas and the troubles he faced, it seems he might have wanted to come up here to access weed,” Sanderson said.
“The job was just for a three-week harvest, and I felt a bit sorry for him, as he wanted to stay on longer, but I didn’t have much work for him then. I ended up keeping him for another three months, attempting to find more tasks,” he recalled.
“Ultimately, I couldn’t keep him on because he wasn’t shining in the role,” he added.
Jahn also had a prior run-in with the law in 2015 for marijuana possession before his time on the cannabis farm.
Authorities classify the assault on the ICE processing center in Dallas as a targeted event.
The phrase “Anti-ICE” was found graffitied on a stripper clip of ammunition located near his corpse, and his dilapidated Toyota Corolla had an odd nuclear fallout map affixed to it.
Additionally, a handwritten note retrieved by investigators stated, “Hopefully this will instill actual fear in ICE agents, making them wonder, ‘is there a sniper with AP [armor piercing] rounds on that roof?’”
Registered as an independent, Jahn participated in the Democratic primary in 2020 and voted last in 2024.
His family reported that Jahn had some familiarity with firearms.
Although a political agenda is still under investigation, Jahn’s mother, Sharon, posted numerous anti-gun messages on social media, criticizing Texas Republican lawmakers who endorsed the Second Amendment.
A family member told The Post that Jahn was not a radical leftist and held no animosity towards immigration officials, despite the anti-ICE messages found alongside the unspent ammunition and the note recovered by the FBI.
However, back in 2017, Jahn’s demeanor appeared typical, Sanderson recalled.
“I thought, ‘What led to this?’ He didn’t seem like a person who would resort to such violence, but you never really know someone fully,” he said after discovering his identity as the assailant.
“Then, it seemed something changed for the worse; he gained a significant amount of weight, likely due to being unhappy,” he added upon seeing his photo. “That’s just my perspective.”
“He was just another typical 21-year-old who enjoyed smoking weed.”
