Defense of a third party theory emerges in Prairieland ICE center shooting trial
When Thomas Gross arrived in a vehicle under drizzle outside an ICE detention center in Johnson County late on July 4, the Alvarado Police Department lieutenant says he saw a person dressed in black tactical gear running and a detention security officer following.
Gross got out and drew his pistol, a 9mm Glock.
Nearly immediately, Gross, who had been dispatched to the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado for a problem the nature of which was not clear, was shot by a person firing a rifle from a position opposite the person who was running.
The shooter, federal prosecutors allege, was Benjamin Song, a 32-year-old former Marine Corps reservist. Song may have been justified by defense of a third party because he believed that he was protecting the running person, defense attorneys have suggested in cross-examination of government witnesses at the joint trial of Song and eight other defendants that is underway in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth.
The defendants’ attorneys refer to their clients as noise demonstrators and argue that they hoped to, in a protest, bring hope to immigrants detained by ICE. The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office describe the defendants as domestic terrorists aligned with antifa.
The defense theory was made clear on Wednesday in defense questions, particularly from attorneys Cody Cofer and Phillip Hayes.
That Gross drew his pistol was “extremely reasonable” under the set of facts, FBI Special Agent Clark Wiethorn, the case agent, testified.
Gross was shot in his upper shoulder, and the projectile left the back of his neck and took a path through tissue and muscle, but avoided vital organs, Gross testified.
The evidence that Song was the shooter comes from a green mask the assailant wore from which samples that tested positive for Song’s DNA were taken and from interviews with cooperating sources, the government has said.
“Get to the rifles,” Song commanded before he fired upon Gross, the government has said. A recording of the statement from Gross’ body-worn camera was played for the jury on Wednesday.
Cofer noted in his cross-examination that Gross was shot after Gross introduced a gun in the encounter.
Gross’ pistol is not visible in the lieutenant’s body-worn camera video.
Injured officer testifies
Gross took the witness stand for the government on Tuesday, recalling being shot, falling to the ground and returning fire at a moving silhouette.
The emotional toll of the shooting continues, the lieutenant testified.
“It’s a day I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life,” Gross said.
Beyond the projectile that entered Gross body, none of the other projectiles were collected as evidence. Eleven ejected cartridge casings from a rifle and two ejected from a pistol were collected. Gross returned fire with three rounds.
Thirteen people wearing black clothes were at the Prairieland Detention Center at the time of the shooting late on July 4, 2025, Wiethorn testified.
The indictment’s top count is attempted murder. Defense attorneys suggest the culpability of each defendant is in question.
Opening statements
Song confessed to three co-defendants, who have pleaded guilty, Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Smith said in the prosecution’s opening statement on Tuesday. The accomplices will testify at the trial, Smith forecast.
“They’re going to tell it to you,” Smith said of the expected testimony on Song’s admission.
Song was the only non-law enforcement shooter, the government alleges. Song is accused of firing 11 rounds.
Song and the other defendants were motivated by the position that the migrants who are detained at the ICE center are political prisoners, Smith asserted.
Defense attorneys who represent eight of the nine defendants offered in their opening statements a radically different account of evidence they said would fall short of establishing a sophisticated conspiracy to commit violence.
Rather, many of the defense attorneys asserted, their clients intended to participate in nothing more than a noise demonstration. One is a mechanical engineer; another operates a benign book club, the defense attorneys said.
Defense attorney Phillip Hayes, whom Song retained, reserved his opening statement for a time later in the trial.
The indictment represents an attempt to prosecute citizens for their political beliefs, defense attorneys have argued.
Although much of the activity outside the detention center was recorded on surveillance video, the defendants’ use of monikers in encrypted written messages in advance of the shooting, avoidance of cellphones that would indicate their location and employment of other methods to maintain “op-sec” has stymied the connection of behavior to an individual defendant, the government has suggested.
Some ignited fireworks and others spoke from a bullhorn or spray-painted anti-ICE phrases on vehicles and an unoccupied guard booth.
The defendants and the charges
Beyond Song, the defendants are Autumn Hill (referred to as Cameron Arnold in the indictment), Zachary Evetts, Savanna Batten, Meagan Morris (referred to as Bradford Morris in the indictment), Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, Ines Soto and Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada.
Warren St. John, who represents Morris, said his client was present at the detention center but was not involved in a crime.
“She didn’t get out of the van one time,” St. John said in his opening statement.
Song is charged with attempted murder and discharging a firearm during, in relation to, and in furtherance of a crime of violence. Evetts, Hill, Morris and Rueda are charged with aiding and abetting.
Song, Batten, Evetts, Hill, Morris, Rueda, and Elizabeth and Ines Soto also were indicted on charges including rioting, providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to use and carry an explosive.
Rueda and Sanchez Estrada also are charged with conspiracy to conceal documents, and Sanchez Estrada is charged with corruptly concealing a document or record.
The jurors were chosen Monday after the first attempt at jury selection ended in a mistrial last week. Testimony in the case began Tuesday. By the end of the day Wednesday, the government had called six witnesses.
The trial is expected to last about two and a half weeks, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman has said.
This story was originally published February 26, 2026 at 8:29 AM.
