2019 Dallas courthouse shooting

{{Infobox civilian attack

|title=2019 Dallas courthouse shooting

|image=Earl Cabell Federal Building, cropped.jpg

|image_upright=

|alt=

|caption=Earl Cabell Federal Building, the location where the shooting took place.|map={{Location map | USA Texas # USA

|float= center

| width=250

| label=Dallas

| background =

| coordinates={{Coord|32.794959|-96.798860}}

}}

|location=Dallas, Texas, U.S.

|target=

|coordinates={{Coord|32.794959|-96.798860|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

|date={{start date and age|2019|06|17}}

|time={{nowrap|8:40 pm}}

|timezone=MDT (UTC−5)

|type=Shooting

|fatalities= 1 (the perpetrator)

|injuries= 1

|perpetrator=Brian Isaack Clyde

|weapons=AR-15 style rifle

}}

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.

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.{{Cite web |last=Bleiberg |first=Jake |last2=Stengle |first2=Jamie |date=2019-06-18 |title=Masked gunman killed in shootout at Dallas courthouse |url=https://apnews.com/article/18ca30714fcf41cd9cc9188ade692b32 |access-date=2023-07-18 |website=AP News |language=en}} 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 and soiled himself. Federal officers performed CPR and took Clyde to the Baylor University Medical Center, approximately {{Convert|2|miles|km|abbr=}} from the courthouse,{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Earle+Cabell+Federal+Building,+Commerce+Street,+Dallas,+TX/baylor+hospital+dallas/@32.784332,-96.7966018,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x864e9919cd0271c5:0xce6250d5940a95e!2m2!1d-96.8021121!2d32.7788158!1m5!1m1!1s0x864e98c4bf429c4d:0xe9b1215e41aec69!2m2!1d-96.7795154!2d32.7893433|title=Earle Cabell Federal Building to Baylor University Medical Center|website=Earle Cabell Federal Building to Baylor University Medical Center|language=en|access-date=2019-06-19}} where he was pronounced deceased.{{cite news |last1=Levenson |first1=Eric |last2=Vera |first2=Amir |date=June 17, 2019 |title=FBI looking into suspected Dallas gunman's military and social media history |work=CNN |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/17/us/dallas-police-shooting/index.html |access-date=June 18, 2019}} Authorities later detonated his vehicle.{{Cite web|url=http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/officers-kill-gunman-firing-on-dallas-federal-courthouse-news-photographer-snaps-photos-as-bullet-fly|title=Officers kill gunman firing on Dallas federal courthouse; news photographer snaps photos|last=Weiss|first=Debra Cassens|date=17 June 2019|website=ABA Journal|language=en|access-date=2019-06-18}} At the time of the shooting, Clyde was carrying more than 150 rounds of ammunition.

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. He took a video and additional photos of the scene after the suspect had been shot by law enforcement officers.{{Cite news |last=Chokshi |first=Niraj |date=2019-06-18 |title=How a Dallas Photojournalist Captured an Image of a Gunman Mid-Attack |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/us/gunman-dallas-courthouse-photo.html |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=2019-06-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204030954/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/us/gunman-dallas-courthouse-photo.html |archive-date=4 February 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}

Perpetrator

Brian Isaack Clyde (September 30, 1996 – June 17, 2019), a 22-year-old male from Plano, Texas,{{Cite web|url=https://www.kswo.com/2019/06/17/gunman-opens-fire-outside-dallas-federal-building/|title=UPDATE: FBI identifies Dallas federal building shooter|last=Burk|first=Jarred|date=17 June 2019|website=KSWO|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-18}} was a private first class in the U.S. Army, and was honorably discharged{{Cite web |date=2019-06-19 |title=The Latest: Family says Dallas court shooter wanted to die |url=https://apnews.com/49bb1e514d82420191f65afdecdd386b |access-date=2024-08-07 |website=AP News |language=en-US}} after serving as an infantryman from August 2015 to February 2017.{{Cite news|url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas/2019/06/17/know-brian-clyde-gunman-opened-fire-federal-courthouse-downtown-dallas|title=What we know about Brian Clyde, the gunman who opened fire at the federal courthouse in downtown Dallas|last1=Branham|first1=Dana|last2=Jaramillo|first2=Cassandra|date=2019-06-17|website=Dallas News|language=en|access-date=2019-06-18}} According to The Dallas Morning News, he was stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. He was not deployed to a war zone during his time in the military.

His mother, originally from Panama, and his father divorced when Brian Clyde was a toddler. Clyde attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas for part of his freshman year in 2012, but later withdrew and moved south to Austin later that year.{{cite news|url=https://www.fox4news.com/news/what-we-know-about-dallas-federal-building-gunman-brian-isaack-clyde|title=What we know about Dallas federal building gunman Brian Isaack Clyde|date=June 17, 2019|work=KDFW-TV|access-date=June 17, 2019}}

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. He stayed for a week in Plano with his father before moving to an apartment in Fort Worth to take a job with an aerospace company.{{Cite web |date=2019-06-17 |title=The Latest: Man who fired at Texas courthouse just graduated |url=https://apnews.com/article/14fea70091344c74b328557e3bf474fb |access-date=2024-08-07 |website=AP News |language=en}}

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.{{Cite web |last=Bleiberg |first=Jake |date=2019-06-20 |title=FBI got tip about Dallas courthouse shooter in 2016 |url=https://apnews.com/general-news-bb7837f11cb848d5a759425328a0c36f |access-date=2024-08-07 |website=AP News |language=en}} Investigations into his social media history took place.{{cite news|url=https://myb106.com/suspect-who-opened-fire-at-a-courthouse-in-dallas-monday-morning-killed-by-police/|title=SUSPECT WHO OPENED FIRE AT A COURTHOUSE IN DALLAS MONDAY MORNING KILLED BY POLICE|date=June 17, 2019|work=KOOC|access-date=June 18, 2019}}

=Motive=

Clyde appears to have self-radicalized online,{{cite news |last1=Krause |first1=Kevin |title=Dallas' 'lone wolf' shooting shows how we're always in danger, even with improved security |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2019/06/22/dallas-lone-wolf-shooting-shows-always-danger-even-improved-security |access-date=30 June 2019 |publisher=Dallas Morning News |date=22 June 2019}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Solomon |first1=Dan |title=How Did the Dallas Courthouse Gunman Get Radicalized? |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/dallas-courthouse-shooter-brian-clyde-radicalized/ |access-date=27 June 2019 |publisher=Texas Monthly |date=20 June 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Martelle |first1=Scott |title=A Thwarted Dallas Shooting goes Viral |url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/enterthefray/la-ol-dallas-gunman-brian-isaack-clyde-video-federal-building-20190618-story.html |access-date=27 June 2019 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=18 June 2009}}{{cite news |last1=Perez |first1=Chris |title=Air Force warns about nationwide threat of 'involuntary celibates' |url=https://nypost.com/2019/06/21/air-force-warns-about-nationwide-threat-of-incels/ |access-date=30 June 2019 |publisher=New York Post |date=21 June 2019}}

Clyde had uploaded extremist far-right memes including ideas about the Confederate States and Nazism.{{cite news |last1=Weill |first1=Kelly |last2=Glawe |first2=Justin |title=Dallas Federal Building Shooter Posted Far-Right Memes About Nazis and Confederacy |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/dallas-federal-building-shooter-posted-far-right-memes-about-nazis-and-confederacy |access-date=28 June 2019 |publisher=Daily Beast |date=17 June 2019}} Some of his posts were transphobic and others were anti-feminist. 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."

Clyde's family spoke publicly a few days later at their home in Plano, stating that their son had been in a mental institution for two weeks nearly six months before he was discharged from the Army in 2017. He was placed as a patient at Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital in Fort Johnson South, Louisiana during a training exercise at Fort Polk that simulated combat conditions. They believed that it was a case of suicide by cop following the shooting.{{cite news |last1=Tarrant |first1=Daniel |last2=Emily |first2=Jennifer |title=Family of Dallas courthouse shooter Brian Clyde believes he wanted to be killed |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas/2019/06/19/parents-dallas-courthouse-shooter-brian-clyde-believe-wanted-killed |access-date=30 June 2019 |publisher=Dallas Morning News |date=19 June 2019}}

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.{{cite news |last1=Brumfeild |first1=Loyd |title=Inspired by Dallas courthouse shooter, Air Force base circulates 'incel' warning signs |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas/2019/06/22/air-force-base-prompted-dallas-courthouse-shooter-educates-personnel-recognizing-incel-warning-signs |access-date=27 June 2019 |publisher=Dallas Morning News |date=22 June 2019}}

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.{{cite news |last1=Gallagher |first1=Mike |title=Man charged with threatening to kill governor |url=https://www.abqjournal.com/1433696/post-on-facebook-page-came-same-day-she-issued-emergency-orders.html |access-date=10 June 2020 |work=Albuquerque Journal |date=March 18, 2020}}

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.{{cite web |title=Tom Fox of the Dallas Morning News |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/tom-fox-dallas-morning-news |website=pulitzer.org |publisher=Pulitzer Prizes |access-date=4 May 2020}} However, the prize went to Reuters for their photography of the 2019 Hong Kong protests.{{cite web |title=Photography Staff of Reuters |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/photography-staff-reuters-2 |website=The Pulitzer Prizes |access-date=31 July 2020}}