A man, identified as Brian Isaack Clyde, opened fire near Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse, before making his way to the glass door of the building and opening fire inside. He was then confronted by three officers from the Federal Protective Service. Following an exchange of gunfire, in which Clyde was shot by one or more federal officers, he collapsed in the parking lot and was taken to Baylor University Medical Center, approximately from the courthouse, and 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 fraud case when the shooting started; he was able to capture photos of the suspect through a telephotozoom lens before taking cover behind a pillar. He took additional photos of the scene after the suspect had been shot by law enforcement officers.
Perpetrator
Brian Isaack Clyde, a 22-year-old male, was a private first class in the U.S. Army, and was honorably discharged after serving as an infantryman from August 2015 to February 2017. According to The Dallas Morning News, he was stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. 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 in Corpus Christi, Texas, with an associate degree 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 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 are ongoing.
Motive
Clyde appears to have self-radicalized online, posting memes from an incel 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 memes including ideas about the Confederate States and Nazism. Some of his posts were transphobic and others were anti-feminist. In April 2019 he posted a meme suggesting that combining eco-friendly and libertarian ideas with into far-right authoritarianism, symbolized by what the Daily Beast 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.
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, Michelle Lujan Grisham. 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 for his photographs of several people fleeing, Clyde himself, and Clyde being attended to, respectively. However, the prize went to Reuters for their photography of the 2019 Hong Kong protests.
