Prosecutors will likely wrap up their case early this week and attorneys representing nine defendants on trial for the Prairieland ICE detention center shooting will present their cases as the proceedings in Fort Worth federal court continue.
The government has spent two weeks presenting evidence in what the Trump administration calls the first domestic terrorism case associated with "antifa," or the anti-fascist movement. The government alleges those on trial played a role in the nonfatal shooting of a police officer outside the immigration detention center in Alvarado July 4, and they were motivated by anti-fascist, anti-ICE and anti-government beliefs.
Jurors have watched footage from that night, heard for the first time from defendants who took plea deals, got a closer look at the alleged antifa materials owned by the defendants on trial and saw the judge strike down the accused shooter's self-defense argument.
Here's more of what the jury learned in the second week of trial.
Origin stories
The jury heard five perspectives from the night of the shooting and the events surrounding it — testimony from law enforcement officers who interviewed defendant Meagan Morris and direct testimony from cooperating defendants Lynette Sharp, Seth Sikes, Susan Kent and John Thomas.
Lynette Sharp, 57, and Seth Sikes, 22, said they met alleged shooter Benjamin Song at Finn's Place, a community center in Fort Worth where Song taught a self-defense class. Thomas was roommates with Song and Song's partner Joy Gibson, a co-defendant who pleaded guilty.
Sharp described Song as an excellent teacher who was intelligent and soft spoken. Sikes called him charismatic.
Through Song, Sharp and Sikes joined the Socialist Rifle Association — a left-wing firearm club also known as the SRA — and met other defendants. Kent, 24, was Sikes' partner and also met Song through the organization.
Members of the community talked politics, firearm safety and self defense during range days, potlucks, book club meetings and karaoke nights.
They were a group of leftist activists, Sikes testified, but their exact philosophies varied. He was more of a socialist, while others identified as communist or anarchist.
Kent testified she wasn't an anti-fascist but a libertarian. She believed U.S. immigration policies needed reform.
The other defendants, she said, were part of an antifa cell. All testified Song had negative views of the police.
Those who went to protests would wear "grey bloc" — normal clothing and coverings that would still make someone hard to identify. Sikes and Sharp testified this was normal to protect themselves against right-wing counterprotesters and the possibility of being doxed, or having their personal information leaked online.
Sikes said he'd attended open-carry protests and brought a gun. Sharp and Kent stated they'd never brought a gun to a protest and never attended a protest at night.
Many of the friends communicated through the encrypted messaging app Signal. Group chat members often knew each other only by their monikers on the app, the witnesses said. Some still do.
Night of the shooting
According to court records, planning ahead of the shooting took place in a Signal chat called "4th of July Party!"
Sharp couldn't go to Prairieland and left the chat for operational security or "op sec" reasons, she said. Sikes testified he was spending the holiday with his family and wasn't monitoring the chat but later joined others at the detention center .
Kent went to a "gear check" at Autumn Hill and Meagan Morris' house in Dallas July 3. Song, Gibson and at least three others attended, and everyone left their phones inside and talked outside, Kent testified.
Song had the group review photos of Prairieland, Kent said. He pointed out an unarmed post at the facility and reportedly said "it won't get any easier than that."
Song also reportedly suggested entering while shooting cover fire and breaking people out of the detention center. Everyone disagreed with that, Kent said, and the group abandoned that plan.
They instead resolved to find nonviolent ways to protest. But they decided to bring guns because, as Kent testified, Song said twice he refused to get arrested.
Morris drove several people, including Song, Gibson and Hill, to Prairieland from her house in Dallas. She parked her red van — which held several firearms, body armor and masks — in a nearby neighborhood.
Texas Ranger Tyler Williamson interviewed Morris July 5, hours after she was arrested. He testified that Morris told him there "really wasn't a plan," other than to have a noise demonstration with fireworks.
Sikes and Sharp testified they held the same understanding of how the night would play out, and were shocked to learn the night ended in violence. Kent told agents she believed Song intended to flee.
The group brought rifles to defend themselves if things did get violent, Morris said, and she was staying with the cars to prevent them from being vandalized. In interviews from the Johnson County Jail, Morris told KERA News she stayed in her car the whole time and played her Nintendo Switch.
Sikes joined about 10 others, dressed in all black or "black bloc," to set off fireworks and chant outside the Prairieland detainees' dorm windows. Sikes also had a pistol on his hip and a broken down AR-15 rifle in his backpack, which he said he brought for self-defense.
But he had no intention to brandish or use his weapons, Sikes said.
"It seems like a way to horrifically escalate a situation," he testified.
As they set off fireworks and chanted in Spanish, Sikes said the detainees gathered at their windows to watch. One pressed a tablet or phone screen up to the window, but Sikes couldn't see what was on it.
The others weren't listening to him when he wanted to leave after correctional officers came outside, Sikes said. Closed circuit camera footage shows the group did begin to walk away in groups as the officers approached.
As he headed to the street leading out of Prairieland, he saw the flashing lights of police cars, and the next moment was "very much a blur," he said.
Sikes testified Song shouted "get to the rifles" when Gross arrived at the scene. Sikes didn't know what that meant, he said. Then he heard the sound of Song's binary trigger and was "very, very, very afraid."
Sikes began running with others down a residential road near the detention center, he said. Song later ran past Sikes, swearing and holding his rifle in the air. Sikes testified that when he asked what happened, Song didn't answer and at some point dropped his rifle on the side of the road.
The night had "turned into something I very much did not want to be a part of," Sikes said.
Police arrested Sikes along with Ines and Elizabeth Soto, Savanna Batten and Maricela Rueda as they walked back to their cars parked about a half-mile away.
Morris, still in her van, heard the gunshots. She told Williamson she began driving away when she saw cop cars passing her. Police stopped Morris and arrested her shortly after.
The aftermath
Sharp said she knew something was wrong when messages flooded in from another Signal group chat early the morning of July 5.
Song was also reportedly still communicating through Signal as he hid out in a field near Prairieland. He ended up crawling from the field to Highway 67, according to testimony. Sharp and Thomas picked him up.
The witnesses testified Song told his friends he had panicked once he saw Gross draw his weapon and shot the officer. Gross may have been spooked by the sound of defendant Zachary Evetts popping tires in the employee parking lot, Thomas testified, causing the officer to point his gun.
Thomas, Sharp and Kent were arrested and charged with helping Song get away. Like Sikes, they pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists. The federal charge has a 15-year maximum sentence that could be reduced because of their cooperation.
Sharp told jurors she grew up Republican, and her politics shifted left over the years. No one in her circles considered themselves a member of an antifa group, she testified.
With adult kids and a husband she called more of a co-parenting roommate, Sharp said she wanted to help Song because she had begun investing a lot of her life in her friends.
"We were close," Sharp said of Song. "I knew that the officer was OK and I wanted to help my friend be OK."
Williamson testified Morris requested another interview with law enforcement three days after the first. She told him she suspected the person who fired at Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross always intended to shoot someone, the ranger said.
Morris believed the shooter invited people out and provided guns to implicate them in the crime — all so the gunman could live out his "fantasy" and run away, Williamson testified.
The person's name was redacted in the statement Williamson read aloud to the jury. But the prosecution, some defense attorneys and even U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman have stated Song was the lone shooter.
"I mean, a person (expletive) shot someone in cold blood," Williamson quoted Morris as saying. "I assume it's that person."
Morris told Williamson she felt "disgusted" and betrayed after learning what happened, the ranger testified. He said while he found parts of her interview truthful, he believed she was minimizing her role in the situation.
That was after he reviewed Signal chats and a map the defendants allegedly made to find out which homes had doorbell cameras and which residents would be most friendly to their cause based on demographics.
The trial resumes Monday morning.
Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org and Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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