Breaking: Texas Antifa Gunman Fugitive Captured
North Texas Antifa member Benjamin Song has just been captured, and two more of his comrades have been charged for allegedly abetting his escape
Update July 17: The report has been updated with exclusive new information about Benjamin Song and Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada.
Armed and dangerous North Texas Antifa gunman fugitive Benjamin Song has just been captured, and two more of his comrades have been charged for allegedly abetting his escape.
Benjamin Hanil Takeshi Song, 32, had been evading arrest from the FBI following the ambush shooting on the Prairieland Detention Center, an ICE facility, on the Fourth of July. Between 20 and 30 rounds were fired at the agents and responding police in Alvarado, Texas. One local officer was shot in the neck and survived.
11 members or associates of the heavily armed cell have been federally charged so far with attempted murder and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. They also face local terrorism charges. At least 14 firearms have been recovered in the investigation, in addition to a cache of ammunition and body armor.
Few details have been released so far about Song’s capture. He was arrested in an apartment in Dallas sometime in the afternoon on July 15. He had shaved his eyebrows, possibly to evade being recognized in public. This journalist first broke the news on X about Song’s capture, citing a source with knowledge. Since then, the Texas Department of Safety confirmed Song’s capture on its website. Song had been a Top 10 Most Wanted suspect in Texas, with a combined reward bounty leading to his arrest and conviction growing to $35,000 by federal and Texas authorities.
Song was known as a firearms enthusiast in the Dallas area, having previously served as a U.S. Marine reservist. He appears to have been radicalized to the far-left and anarchist politics around 2020, when he became involved in BLM-Antifa rioting in Austin. In the years leading up to the ambush shooting this month, Song provided firearms and militancy training to far-left extremists, and volunteered as an armed “guard” with the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club for so-called family-friendly drag events in North Texas.
In addition to federal charges, Song is facing local charges of engaging in organized criminal activity, a Texas version of RICO, aggravated assault on a public servant and aiding in commission of terrorism.
Fox News first reported that Song’s father, Tailim Song, is a prominent lawyer in the Dallas-based firm, Song Whiddon PPLC. Song’s mother is Hope Song, the program director of Sentinel Martial Arts, based in Arlington, Texas. Song’s Antifa firearms and militancy training videos were recorded at that martial arts gym and at a home believed to belong to his parents.
Notice the “ANTIFA” label on Song’s training partner’s vest:
Separate from Song’s capture, the DOJ in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth Division) announced that two additional suspects had been arrested over the July Fourth ambush shooting.
John Phillip Thomas and Lynette Read Sharp are both charged with being an accessory after the fact. Investigators have gained access to the cell's secret Signal planning chats.
Thomas was allegedly caught lying to investigators, telling them he didn't know fugitive ringleader Benjamin Song. They had previously lived together at a home in Dallas. According to the criminal complaint, Thomas admitted that he conspired with three others after the shooting to transport Song out of the area. Thomas had a loaded AR-15 magazine in his vehicle. He used the alias "Roy" and members of the Signal group had tactics to delete evidence. He's being held on a $5 million bond and is also facing a local charge of smuggling a person.
From the updated federal criminal complaint:
Thomas was also a member of at least two Signal Chat groups that also included Song as a member. In one chat, Thomas was the group administrator and went by the moniker: "Roy, come and get this cat." Song's moniker in this chat was "Champagne.'' Early in the morning on July 5, the day after the shooting, Song changed his moniker from "Champagne" to "Delete." Another user in the chat then sent a message to Thomas stating, "can we get a removal here too please." After that message, Thomas removed. Song from the group chat altogether.
Lynette Sharp was also a member of the Signal Antifa planning chats and used the aliases "Hippie" and "Candied Dynamite." She allegedly helped transfer Song to another person to help him escape. The chat showed the cell had performed reconnaissance at the Prairieland Detention Center before the ambush shooting.
“In that chat, Sharp and others discussed their plans to conduct an operation at the Prairieland Detention Center, including where to meet and plan prior to the operation and nearby street addresses of Tanglewood Drive and Sunflower Lane,” the complaint alleges. “The chat also contained evidence that the group had performed reconnaissance at Prairieland Detention Center, including detailed descriptions of the area and photographs.”
Sharp allegedly offered financial assistance to the cell. She is a member of the “No Hate in Texas” far-left group and was covered in local media for picketing in front of Christian churches. She's being held on a $2.5 million bond and is facing a local charge of hindering the prosecution of terrorism.
Video of Sharp (courtesy of Kelly Neidert) protesting outside a church:
I also found Ms. Sharp’s Facebook page, on which she operates under the alias, “Joyce Shread.” In posts made in April, Sharp made several posts and reactions suggesting she was willing to be criminal to support her political cause.
The ten suspects first apprehended over the ambush shooting are each being held on a $10 million bond in Johnson County, Texas. Antifa and far-left extremists on social media are calling the prosecutions “fascist.” Song’s bail is set at $15 million, the highest so far.
An 11th suspect, Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada, the husband of suspect Maricela Rueda, was charged separately with felony tampering with evidence in an official proceeding and conspiracy to tamper with evidence in an official proceeding. He allegedly helped his wife hide evidence. A former illegal migrant, Rolando Sanchez Estrada is in federal custody at the FMC, Fort Worth detention center. He received a green card last year during the Biden administration.
Rolando Sanchez Estrada uses the alias “Des Revol” and is a prominent Antifa graphics propagandist and tattoo artist. His work has been promoted by the Radical Graffiti account, whose own Antifa propaganda work was posted around Montgomery, Ala. by Kyle B. D. Calvert, an Antifa member convicted last year for detonating an IED with nails outside the Alabama attorney general’s office.
Rolando Sanchez Estrada also created propaganda content for Asheville, N.C. Antifa bookshop “Firestorm Books.” The business is used as a meeting location for violent extremist far-left groups.
In December 2024, Rolando Sanchez Estrada spoke on a podcast for the 2024 Another Carolian Anarchist Bookfair in Asheville in which he discussed his extremist anti-government anarchist beliefs. The anarchist radio station deleted the interview but I have found an archive.
The Fourth of July ambush attack in Texas has received almost no coverage in liberal legacy media, even though it is the most brazen Antifa attack on American soil in history. The bond set for each suspect is also the highest in U.S. history for any alleged Antifa members.
I'm glad to read they're being held and not released with a high bail! That's a big difference from four years ago during the BLM rioting when the Democrats thought it was funny and useful to tear up the city and get out of jail easily.
Time to take the gloves for the Antifa radical. Interestingly the Dems keep insisting Antifa is just an idea”