The man killed by law enforcement Monday after opening fire outside of the Earle Cabell Federal Building in Dallas left behind a social media presence in which he displayed an obsession with violence and politics, at times veering into far-right, racist and misogynist memes and rhetoric.
“I don’t know how much longer I have, but the fucking storm is coming,” the shooter, who authorities confirmed was Brian Isaack Clyde, said in a Facebook video a week before his death.
“However,” the 22-year-old continued, holding up a rifle, “I’m not without defense. I’m fucking ready.”
Like many posts on Clyde’s Facebook page, the ominous video was confusing: Was he referring to the shooting he would carry out a few days later — of which there were no reported deaths aside from Clyde’s own — or the rainy weather outside? A caption read: “This storm is about to pay for kicking me off my porch.”
Other posts were more explicit: A day before the shooting, Clyde posted a picture of a sword and wrote: “A modern gladius to defend the modern Republic.”
Another, from April, referred to an alliance between libertarians and NatSocs, short for National Socialists, i.e. Nazis.
Clyde served from August 2015 until February 2017 as an Army infantryman, the Army confirmed to TPM in an email.
“Private 1st Class Clyde served as an infantryman in the Army from August 2015 to February 2017,” William J. Sharp, an Army spokesperson, said in an email. Citing “privacy reasons,” Sharp declined to discuss Clyde’s service, including whether he was discharged honorably or not.
Clyde referenced his service during an academic award ceremony at Del Mar College, where he was soon to graduate with an associate degree in applied science, in April.
“I originally went for a history degree, but too much B.S. for,” he said in his remarks at the award ceremony, seen on a video he posted to his Facebook page. According to a picture Clyde posted, he was a student of non-destructive applied technology.
“I also want to thank the VA guys for helping me get my benefits,” he added. Several outlets have reported Clyde was discharged in 2017.
A spokesperson for Del Mar confirmed to TPM that Clyde was a recent graduate, writing in an email that he “graduated from Del Mar College in May 2019 with an Associate in Applied Science degree in Nondestructive Testing Technology.”
The Dallas News noted the shooting took place just one block from where five police officers were killed in a shooting massacre in 2016.
Many of Clyde’s Facebook dispatches were political:
Others reflected an obsession with violence and guns, filtered through an apparent immersion in the inside jokes and memes of the far-right web. “God i love gun shows,” he wrote in April.
