Alvarado ICE attacker on Texas 10 most wanted list
The Texas Department of Public Safety has added Benjamin Song to its Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List, offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to his arrest. The FBI is also offering an additional reward of up to $25,000.
ALVARADO, Texas – The Texas Department of Public Safety has added Benjamin Song to its Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List, offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to his arrest. The FBI is also offering an additional reward of up to $25,000.
Song, 32, is wanted in connection with a July 4 attack on the Prairieland Federal Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas. During the incident, an Alvarado police officer was shot.
Song is the twelfth person charged in the attack.
Alvarado ICE Detention Center Attack
The backstory:
Around 10:30 p.m. on Friday, a disturbance outside the ICE Prairieland Detention Center appeared to lure unarmed correctional officers outside. Investigators are saying a positioned gunman then began firing.
A responding Alvarado police officer was shot in the neck. He is expected to recover.
The federal investigators say the suspects were dressed in military black and donned body armor. Some were even covered in mud.
Alvarado police chief Teddy May tells FOX 4’s Shaun Rabb that the officer that was shot in the neck is doing “remarkably well” and has been released from the hospital.
Benjamin Song
Benjamin Hanil Song (Source: FBI)
Dig deeper:
While others in the group of 10-12 lured officers out of the facility, the document says Song was positioned in nearby woods with two rifles, from where he and at least one other suspect opened fire on the law enforcement agents.
The document says both rifles found afterward in the woods were found to have been purchased by Song. One of the rifles was allegedly fitted with a binary trigger, which is used to double the rate of fire of a semi-automatic gun. The document implies that the device was likely an aftermarket modification.
“Mister Song is the registered owner or purchaser of four firearms that were recovered from the scene. In addition to that, we have information from a cell phone used by Mister Song that places him in the vicinity of the attack at about the same time the attack occurred,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Joseph Rothrock.
The FBI says Song has strong ties to the DFW area and, at this point, that they believe he is still in the area.
Song was a U.S. Marine Reservist for five years.
Rothrock says his training in concerning for the FBI who call him a threat to the safety of the public and to law enforcement.
Charges Against Song
What we know:
Johnson County has issued warrants for Song on charges including aggravated assault on a public servant, aiding terrorism, and engaging in organized crime. A federal arrest warrant from the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, charges him with attempted murder of a federal officer and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Song is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing about 150 pounds. He has ties to Dallas County, including the cities of Dallas and Addison. A Blue Alert for Song was issued on Wednesday evening.
Texas Crime Stoppers, funded by the Governor’s Public Safety Office, offers cash rewards for tips that lead to the arrest of individuals on the state’s most wanted lists. All tips are guaranteed to be anonymous.
To be eligible for a cash reward, tips must be submitted through one of three methods:
Tipsters will be provided a tip number instead of using a name to ensure anonymity.
The Source: Information in this article is from the Texas Department of Public Safety and interviews with FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Joseph Rothrock and former US attorney Aaron Wiley.
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