In the case of his client Jason Thornburg, a serial killer<\/a> who was responsible for the deaths of five people, including a roommate who died in a house explosion, Brissette at a pretrial hearing asked a Fort Worth Fire Department arson investigator to define the word \u201cfire\u201d and watched as the witness sat silent, unable to answer the question.<\/p>\n Brissette\u2019s dogged expert cross was on display on Monday. With defense attorney Warren St. John, Brissette represents Meagan Morris in the ongoing trial in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth of nine defendants in a case in which the government alleges a group of violent antifa cell members were connected to the shooting of a police officer outside ICE\u2019s Prairieland Detention Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n ATF Special Agent Stephen Brenneman, who examined fireworks found in a cooler at the scene, took the witness stand on the trial\u2019s tenth day. Before the shooting, some of the defendants, prosecutors allege, fired fireworks at the facility<\/a>, in which the government holds immigrants it intends to deport.<\/p>\n Brissette probed the accuracy of Brenneman\u2019s curriculum vitae and tried to get the special agent to acknowledge that he earned a certification in 2017, not 2015, when his training began.<\/p>\n Beyond fireworks, the cooler also contained a jar of bubbles. Surely they were subjected to analysis, Brissette suggested.<\/p>\n \u201cDid you test anything to see if there were any liquid explosives in there?\u201d the defense attorney asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI did not,\u201d Brenneman said.<\/p>\n Brissette and the special agent got in a back-and-forth on what states of matter can burn.<\/p>\n \u201cYour official position for ATF is: solids burn?\u201d Brissette asked.<\/p>\n That the Prairieland fireworks were consumer grade \u201cdoes not mean that they\u2019re not powerful and certainly doesn\u2019t mean that they\u2019re not explosives,\u201d Brenneman testified.<\/p>\n The defendants\u2019 attorneys refer to their clients as noise demonstrators and argue that they wanted, in a protest, to bring hope to immigrants detained by ICE.<\/a><\/p>\n The assailant who shot Lt. Thomas Gross, federal prosecutors allege, was Benjamin Song, a 32-year-old former Marine Corps reservist. Gross was shot after he responded to a call at the ICE detention center and drew and pointed his pistol when he saw a person dressed in black tactical gear running away.<\/p>\n The government on Monday also called to the stand Texas Department of Public Safety forensic scientists who testified that they had concluded that Song\u2019s right thumbprint was on cartridge cases in the rifle\u2019s magazine and his DNA was a contributor to the profile found on a neck gaiter at the scene.<\/p>\n Early in the trial, defense attorneys suggested in cross-examination of government witnesses that Song may have been justified by defense of a third party because he believed that he was protecting the running person. Judge Mark Pittman later granted the prosecution\u2019s motion to block defense attorneys<\/a> from arguing that line of defense.<\/p>\n That Gross drew his pistol was \u201cextremely reasonable\u201d under the set of facts, FBI Special Agent Clark Wiethorn, the case agent, testified.<\/p>\n Gross was shot in his upper shoulder<\/a>, and the projectile left the back of his neck after it took a path through tissue and muscle, but avoided vital organs, Gross testified.<\/p>\n Thirteen people wearing black clothes were at Prairieland at the time of the shooting late on July 4, 2025, Wiethorn testified.<\/p>\n Some ignited fireworks and others spoke from a bullhorn or spray-painted anti-ICE phrases on vehicles and an unoccupied guard booth.<\/p>\n Beyond Song and Morris, who is referred to as Bradford Morris in the indictment, the defendants are Autumn Hill, who is referred to as Cameron Arnold in the indictment, Zachary Evetts, Savanna Batten, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, Ines Soto and Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Rueda and Sanchez Estrada also are charged with conspiracy to conceal documents, and Sanchez Estrada is charged with corruptly concealing a document or record.<\/p>\n Five additional defendants pleaded guilty in November to the charge of providing material support to terrorists and have testified at the trial.<\/p>\n The government is expected to rest its case in chief on Tuesday.<\/p>\n This story was originally published March 10, 2026 at 8:51 AM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n The Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas, on Jan. 30, 2026. Amanda McCoy amccoy@star-telegram.com <\/p>\n
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