On June 17, 2019, a shooting occurred at the

Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse The Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse, named for former Dallas mayor Earle Cabell, is located in the Government District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. It houses the United States District Court for the Northern District ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, 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

, before making his way to the glass door of the building and opening fire inside. Three officers from the Federal Protective Service returned fire. Following an exchange of gunfire, in which Clyde was fatally shot by one or more federal officers, he ran towards the parking lot and fired five more rounds before he collapsed. Federal officers performed CPR and took Clyde to the

Baylor University Medical Center Baylor University Medical Center (Baylor Dallas or BUMC), part of Baylor Scott & White Health, is a not-for-profit hospital in Dallas, Texas. It has 1,025 licensed beds and is one of the major centers for patient care, medical training and resea ...

, approximately from the courthouse, where he was pronounced deceased. Authorities later detonated his vehicle. 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 A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of auto ...

fraud case when the shooting started; he was able to capture two photos of the suspect through a

telephoto A telephoto lens, in photography and cinematography, is a specific type of a long-focus lens in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. This is achieved by incorporating a special lens group known as a ''telephoto ...

zoom lens A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length (and thus angle of view) can be varied, as opposed to a fixed-focal-length (FFL) lens (see prime lens). A true zoom lens, also called a parfocal lens, is one ...

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.

Perpetrator

Brian Isaack Clyde (September 30, 1996 – June 17, 2019), a 22-year-old male, was a private first class in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

, and was honorably discharged after serving as an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

man from August 2015 to February 2017. According to ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'', he was stationed at

Fort Campbell Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located astride the Kentucky–Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Clarksville, Tennessee, Clarksville, Tennessee (post address is located in Kentucky). F ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. He was not deployed to a war zone during his time in the military. At the time of the shooting, Clyde had recently graduated from

Del Mar College Del Mar College (DMC) is a public community college in Corpus Christi, Texas. Founded in 1935, DMC encompasses two primary campuses and one campus annex with combined physical assets of more than $99 million. As defined by the Texas Legislature ...

in Corpus Christi, Texas, with an

associate degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

in applied science in nondestructive testing technology. Although Clyde had not been of "investigative interest" to the FBI, his half-brother had contacted the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(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. Investigations into his social media history took place.

Motive

Clyde appears to have self-radicalized online, posting memes related to the

incel An incel ( , an abbreviation of "involuntary celibate") is a member of an Internet culture, online subculture of people who define themselves as unable to get a Romantic partner, romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one. Discussions in ...

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. Clyde had uploaded extremist

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

memes including ideas about the

Confederate States The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

and

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. Some of his posts were

transphobic Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...

and others were anti-feminist. In April 2019 he posted a meme suggesting that combining eco-friendly and

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

ideas with far-right authoritarianism, symbolized by what the

Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

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 believed that it was a case of

suicide by cop Suicide by cop or suicide by police is a suicide method in which a suicidal individual deliberately behaves in a threatening manner, with intent to provoke a lethal response from a public safety or law enforcement officer. Overview There are ...

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. On March 18, 2020, a man pleaded guilty to threatening to assassinate the

governor of New Mexico , insignia = Seal of the Governor of New Mexico.svg , insigniasize = 110px , insigniacaption = Seal of the Governor , image = File:Michelle Lujan Grisham 2021.jpg , imagesize = 200px , alt = , incumbent = Michelle Lujan Grisham , incu ...

Michelle Lujan Grisham Michelle Lynn Lujan Grisham (; born October 24, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 32nd governor of New Mexico since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Lujan Grisham previously served as the U.S. representative for N ...

. He cited Clyde as an inspiration for his desired attack. On May 4, 2020, Tom Fox was nominated for a

Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography is one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. From 2000 it has used the "breaking news" name but it is considered a continuation of the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photogr ...

for his photographs of several people fleeing, Clyde himself, and Clyde being attended to, respectively. However, the prize went to

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

for their photography of the 2019 Hong Kong protests.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dallas courthouse shooting, 2019 2019 crimes in Texas 2010s in Dallas 2019 in Texas Attacks in the United States in 2019 Attacks on government buildings and structures Crimes in Dallas Deaths by firearm in Texas Downtown Dallas Filmed killings by law enforcement Incel-related violence June 2019 crimes in the United States June 2019 events in the United States Violence in Texas Failed terrorist attempts in the United States