Crime
Armed Queers Salt Lake City Founded by Ex-Gun Control Activist Ermiya Fanaeian
Federal authorities are investigating a radical left-wing group known as Armed Queers Salt Lake City (AQSLC) for possible foreknowledge or involvement in the recent assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.
Founded in 2020 in Salt Lake City, AQSLC identifies itself as a queer- and trans-led Marxist-Leninist organization.
Its stated mission includes combining LGBTQ+ activism with armed self-defense training, advocating for trans liberation, the abolition of prisons and police, and the dismantling of capitalism and U.S. imperialism.
The group’s leader has been identified as Ermiya Fanaeian, an Iranian-born transgender activist with a history of leftist organizing.
Prior to founding AQSLC, Fanaeian was active in March for Our Lives, the student gun control movement co-founded in 2018.
She was also associated with Pink Pistols, an LGBTQ+ firearms group, and later broke away to form AQSLC following disputes with other organizations.
Fanaeian had previously been recognized by Utah Global Diplomacy, an NGO with ties to the U.S. State Department and the United Nations. However, references to her on their platforms have since been removed.
As part of the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), members of AQSLC joined the 2025 May Day Brigade to Havana, where they engaged with Cuban officials and activists aligned with the communist government.
In a now-deleted YouTube video titled “Cuba Report Back: Our Time as 2025 May Day Brigadistas,” Fanaeian and another organizer discussed revolutionary tactics, openly embraced the “terrorist” label, and spoke of applying lessons learned in Cuba to incite political upheaval in the United States. They described America as the “Belly of the Beast.”
On September 10, 2025—the same day Charlie Kirk was assassinated—the group deleted its Instagram account and removed content linked to its Cuba trip and firearms training. Archived posts revealed repeated calls for armed protection of queer communities and rhetoric endorsing militant struggle.
One clip captured before deletion shows Fanaeian stating: “If we’re terrorists, we’re proud terrorists.”
A federal law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told reporters the group “deserves classification as a domestic terrorist organization.”
Investigators have also noted that the logo of AQSLC features the same caliber bullet that was used in Kirk’s killing, engraved with leftist slogans.
Kirk was fatally shot on September 10, 2025, while speaking at Utah Valley University. The suspected shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, lived with a transgender partner. Police recovered a bolt-action rifle and ammunition at the scene, engraved with antifascist and sexually suggestive messaging.
Authorities are now examining whether AQSLC’s rhetoric, activities, or international connections may have inspired or influenced the attack.
Armed Queers Salt Lake City has been active in Utah’s activist circles. In 2023, the group gave a lecture at the University of Utah hosted by a socialist student organization, promoting “queer resistance” and the dismantling of oppressive systems, including what they described as “cis-heteropatriarchy” and “land ownership.”
The group had also been profiled by the Young America’s Foundation (YAF) for promoting militant ideologies to students.
Federal and local authorities continue to investigate the group’s ties to radical networks, including its engagement with Cuba, its militant messaging, and the timing of its online disappearance following Kirk’s death.
This remains an active and developing investigation.
Crime
Sister of ICE Shooting Suspect Identified as Kioko Jahn, Reportedly Linked to LGBTQ Community, OnlyFans Platform, and Prior Arrests
Investigators continued their search for answers Wednesday following a deadly shooting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Texas that left one detainee dead and two others wounded.
Authorities later identified the suspect as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn, whose family is now grappling with the shocking events.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the first shots were fired at approximately 6:20 a.m.
The gunman opened fire “indiscriminately” at the ICE building and a transport van located in the facility’s sallyport, striking multiple victims.
Jahn’s body was discovered on the roof of a nearby immigration attorney’s office. Authorities reported that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Law enforcement officials also recovered unspent shell casings near his remains, some of which bore the words “ANTI-ICE.” FBI Director Kash Patel later shared an image of one such casing on social media.
Reached at their home in a Dallas suburb shortly after the incident but before Joshua was publicly named, his parents, Andrew and Sharon Jahn, struggled to speak about the tragedy.
“I’m sorry, I can’t talk to you right now,” his mother said through tears, apologizing repeatedly before ending the call.
Andrew Jahn, a retired mechanical engineer, was unavailable for comment. Sharon, also retired, previously worked as an administrator at a massage school in Plano.
Joshua Jahn’s older brother, Noah, described his family as devastated and in shock. In an earlier interview, Noah said his brother was not particularly political and “didn’t have strong feelings about ICE, as far as I knew.”
Records show Joshua was not affiliated with any political party.
Still, Noah acknowledged that his brother had access to firearms through the family but insisted, “He’s not a marksman, that’s for sure,” expressing disbelief that Joshua could have carried out such an attack.
Public records indicate that Joshua did not have an extensive criminal history.
In 2016, he was arrested on a felony marijuana charge and later entered a deferred guilty plea. He was sentenced to five years of probation, fined $500, and ordered to pay restitution.
Authorities also confirmed that a car believed to belong to Jahn was recovered with a handwritten sign referencing “radioactive fallout from nuclear formations.”
The FBI is currently searching the family’s Fairview, Texas home, which is valued at approximately $850,000.
Family members described Joshua as “unique” and said he had previously worked in computer coding but was unemployed at the time of the shooting.
He had recently been planning to relocate to his parents’ property in Oklahoma.
His younger sister, Kioko, and brother Noah both live in Texas.
Joshua Jahn’s sister, Kioko Jahn, is associated with the LGBTQ community and maintains an account on the subscription platform OnlyFans.
Public records also indicate she has a history of multiple arrests.
The shooting quickly drew national attention.
President Donald Trump condemned the attack on social media, calling the suspect “deranged” and describing the act as “despicable.” Trump argued that political rhetoric directed against ICE has fueled a rise in threats and violence targeting law enforcement officers.
This was not the first time the Jahn family’s name had surfaced in political discussions.
In 2022, Joshua’s mother, Sharon, publicly criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott and U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz for their gun policies, questioning their role in the state’s ongoing gun violence crisis.
As investigators work to piece together Joshua Jahn’s motives, his family remains shaken. “I didn’t think he was politically interested,” Noah repeated. “He wasn’t involved in politics on either side, as far as I knew.”
The investigation into the Dallas ICE facility shooting remains ongoing.