A man armed with a bulletproof vest who tried to enter the FBI office in Cincinnati on Thursday was shot to death by police after fleeing the scene and getting into a confrontation with authorities in rural Ohio.
The man is believed to have been in Washington DC during the days leading up to the January 6, 2021 insurrection and may have been present at the Capitol on the day of the riot.
The suspect was identified as 42-year-old Ricky Shiffer. Federal investigators are examining whether he may have had ties to far-right groups like the Proud Boys.
Shiffer, authorities said, “attempted to breach” the visitor control area at the FBI office around 9:15 a.m. and fled when confronted by agents.
After fleeing to Interstate 71, a police officer spotted him and fired shots as he chased him, said Lt. Nathan Dennis, a spokesman for the Ohio Highway Patrol.
He then exited the interstate and abandoned his car on rural roads, where he exchanged gunfire with police and was injured. The fatal encounter with police occurred after negotiations failed and police tried unsuccessfully to use “less lethal tactics.”
Over the past few days there have been mounting threats against FBI agents and offices across the country since the feds executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. On Gab, a social networking site popular with white supremacists and anti-Semites, users said they were preparing for an armed revolution.
Federal officials have also been tracking other conversations on Gab and other platforms that threaten violence.
FBI Director Christopher Wray denounced the threats when he visited another FBI office in Nebraska on Wednesday. “Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with,” he said.
Associated Press/OnCuba.
