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In Dallas, two individuals apprehended in connection with a shooting incident outside a Texas immigration detention facility in July are now facing additional charges, following the directive from President Donald Trump to categorize antifa as a domestic terrorist group.
A federal grand jury in Fort Worth indicted Autumn Hill and Zachary Evetts on Wednesday. The charges include providing material support to terrorists and attempting to kill U.S. government officers and employees. Federal prosecutors allege the pair are members of an antifa faction that orchestrated the shooting.
Hill and Evetts were already charged with attempted murder, along with nine others, for their alleged involvement in the July 4th shooting outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, near Dallas, which resulted in a police officer being injured.
Attorney General Pam Bondi addressed the new charges in a post on X, describing antifa as “a left-wing terrorist organization” and emphasizing that they will be prosecuted accordingly.
Antifa, a term short for “anti-fascists,” does not refer to a single organization. Instead, it encompasses a variety of far-left militant groups known for opposing neo-Nazis and white supremacists during demonstrations.
The indictment said the attack began when a group of people clad in black and wearing masks, some carrying firearms and wearing body armor, shot fireworks toward the center and vandalized vehicles and a guard shed. Then, as officers responded, one person yelled, “get to the rifles” and opened fire, striking an officer, according to the indictment.
The indictment said that the group brought 10 firearms to the July 4 attack.
Cody Cofer, an attorney for Hill, said in an emailed statement that the new terrorism-related charge “could be understood by some as an attempt to appeal to a mob mentality rather than relying on the evidence and the law.”
Patrick McLain, an attorney for Evetts, said that so far he’s seen “zero basis” for any of the charges against his client.
The original charges filed over the summer say searches related to the attack found items including anti-government materials and flyers with political messages, but those documents did not mention antifa.
Antifa is a domestic entity and, as such, is not a candidate for inclusion on the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations. There is no domestic equivalent to that list in part because of broad First Amendment protections enjoyed by organizations operating within the United States.
The July 4 shooting took place as Trump ’s administration has ramped up deportations. Days after that shooting, a man with an assault rifle fired dozens of rounds at federal agents and a U.S. Border Patrol facility in McAllen near the Mexico border, injuring a police officer. Authorities shot and killed the attacker.