Mixed verdict reached in Prairieland antifa terrorism case

One defendant found guilty of attempted murder

A federal jury returned a mixed verdict on Friday in the trial of nine people accused of conspiring to commit terrorism at the Prairieland immigration detention center last summer.

Benjamin Hanil Song was found guilty of attempted murder and charges related to discharging a firearm. The other defendants charged with attempted murder were found not guilty.

They were on trial for charges in connection with the violent July 2025 encounter in which a police officer was shot and wounded.

All nine defendants were found guilty of rioting, and those who were charged with providing material support to terrorists were found guilty. Most who were charged in connection with using explosives were also found guilty.

The verdict was read aloud shortly after 2:30 p.m.

“Antifa is a domestic terrorist organization that has been allowed to flourish in Democrat-led cities — not under President Trump,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “Today’s verdict on terrorism charges will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa and finally halts their violence on America’s streets.”

U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould dismissed any notion that the defendants were engaged in a peaceful protest.

“These guilty verdicts and convictions rightly reflect the vicious, armed attack that these Antifa cell members planned and executed against law enforcement and detention center officers on the night of July 4 last year,” Raybould said in the statement. “Their terrorist acts, attempted murder, vandalism, and explosives launched at a detention facility were a far cry from some peaceful protest or First Amendment expression.”

Lesa Pamplin, an attorney for defendant Maricela Rueda, said her initial reaction to the verdict was one of shock. Her client was acquitted of the more serious charges, but found guilty of rioting and providing support to terrorists, which Pamplin called “confounding.”

“This case was overcharged,” she said. “Trump wanted it.”

Pamplin said she thinks the jury “split the baby” with its mixed verdict, giving something to the government and to the defense.

The defendants remain in custody until their sentencing June 18.

“My heart breaks for her. My heart breaks for all of them,” Pamplin said. “Our First Amendment rights are basically dead at this point. There’s no going back, but that’s the Trump Administration.”

At least 16 people have been charged in the case.

Seven of them had already pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists in connection with the incident and face up to 15 years in federal prison when they are sentenced later this year.

Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Rebecca Morgan, Seth Sikes, Susan Kent, Lynette Sharp and John Thomas entered guilty pleas in November in federal court in Fort Worth.

After the verdict was announced Friday, a woman outside the Eldon B. Mahon federal courthouse in Fort Worth shouted angrily at Kent’s father.

Ed Kent said he isn’t angry at those who think his daughter, who was a cooperating defendant, is a traitor.

“It’s upsetting,” he said. “My daughter, she told the truth.”

Kent said people have a right to their opinion, and said his daughter became involved in the incident because “her friends were involved in it.”

Prosecutors say it’s the first time the government has prosecuted what they label as “Antifa cell members.”

The defendants who proceeded to trial were Song, Rueda, Cameron Arnold, Zachary Evetts, Savanna Batten, Bradford Morris, Elizabeth Soto, Ines Soto and Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada, according to court records.

The acting U.S. attorney in Dallas at the time called the defendants a “group of violent Antifa cell members.”

The trial became a talking point in the debate over when organized protests become acts of domestic terrorism.

Assistant U.S. attorney Shawn Smith said the group followed antifa tactics laid out in a playbook, including communicating through the encrypted Signal messaging app and wearing all black.

“This was not a peaceful protest,” Smith told jurors Wednesday.

Federal authorities described the incident as a “planned ambush with the attempt to kill ICE correction officers.”

Prosecutors said 11 guns were ultimately recovered, some from cars or in backpacks. That included three AR-15 style rifles at or near the scene, court records show.

They also found body armor, magazines and a flag that said “fight oligarchy” and “resist fascism.” Some of the accused carried first aid kits and handheld radios, prosecutors said.

Defense attorneys, however, repeatedly urged jurors to consider each defendant’s actions separately, arguing their clients believed they were attending a peaceful protest.

Protestors or terrorists?

Antifa, short for antifascist, is not a single organization with a leadership hierarchy or member lists but rather an umbrella term for far-left groups that oppose neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

Plea documents in the case referred to antifa as a “revolutionary anarchist or autonomous Marxist ideology that is anti-law enforcement, anti-immigration enforcement, and calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and the system of law.

Trump designated antifa a domestic terrorist organization in September. However, there is no domestic terrorism criminal statute like there is for foreign terrorism cases.

Among the items seized at the scene were “Antifa-related paraphernalia and literature encouraging violent resistance against the United States,” court records show.

The incident

Prosecutors called the July 4 incident an attack and a terrorist act.

During the day, a small and peaceful protest occurred at the detention center.

The defendants, dressed in black and wearing masks, arrived later, around 11 p.m., and began shooting off and throwing fireworks at the immigration detention facility, officials say. The assailants, some armed, also vandalized security cameras and a vacant guard shack and slashed the tires of vehicles in the parking lot, authorities said.

The defendants’ supporters said they were protesting conditions at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, about 30 miles south of Fort Worth, that night using a “noise demonstration in solidarity with detainees” at the ICE detention center.

Alvarado police Lt. Thomas Gross was the first officer to arrive on the scene. Song yelled “Get to the rifles” and moments later opened fire with an AR-15-style weapon, striking the officer in the neck, authorities said.

Gross fell to the ground but was able to return a few shots, according to court records. Song continued firing at the wounded officer, as well as at two correctional officers, until his rifle jammed, authorities said.

The group then ran away. Most were arrested near the scene, but Song evaded capture for two weeks.

Gross, who survived the shooting, testified during the trial that he feared for his life and acknowledged he pulled his weapon first after arriving on scene and believing it was an ambush.

Prosecutors described Song, a former Marine reservist, as the ringleader of the group and said others knew or should have known about his plans.

Many of the defendants attended a “gear check” meeting the night before, prosecutors said. Song discussed tactics at the meeting and said he was “not going to jail,” according to court records.

Song recruited members at gun ranges and “combat sessions,” and he acquired and distributed firearms to his co-defendants, prosecutors said.

By Kevin Krause

Kevin has worked for The Dallas Morning News since 2003. He covers federal criminal courts and has been a journalist for 30 years. Kevin is a multiple recipient of the Stephen Philbin Award for excellence in legal reporting. Kevin earned a BA from Boston University.

By Sue Ambrose

Sue Ambrose has worked as a reporter for The Dallas Morning News since 1995. A member of the investigative team since 2008, she has reported on hospital safety, mismanagement at state agencies and misspending of public funds. She began her journalism career covering science.