A man has been fatally shot after attempting to break into an FBI building in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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The suspect is reported to be a 42-year-old man called Ricky Shiffer. A federal law enforcement source told CNN he was believed to be armed with an AR-15 rifle and a nail gun.
Reportedly dressed in body armour, Shiffer attempted to enter the FBI building but fled in his vehicle, pursued by state police, said authorities.
The chase “snaked along rural roads” where “daily life was thrown into chaos”, reported The New York Times. The stand-off lasted several hours, with witnesses speaking of “uneasy moments”.
In a news conference, Lieutenant Nathan Dennis, of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, said negotiations and “less-than-lethal tactics” failed and the suspect was killed after he raised his gun to officers.
“Agents are investigating Shiffer’s possible ties to extremist groups”, including far-right group the Proud Boys, several of whose leaders face charges following the Capitol riot, insiders told The Washington Post. The newspaper said Shiffer’s name appears on several media platforms by an “individual who spoke about being at the Capitol on Jan. 6”.
Hours after the FBI’s raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida went public earlier this week, an individual using Shiffer’s name posted “a call to arms” on the former president’s social media platform Truth Social, said the Post. It encouraged others to “get whatever you need to be ready for combat”.
A few days later, the same account wrote, “if you don’t hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the FBI”. The account was taken down on Thursday.
Since the raid on Mar-a-Lago, there have been “increased threats against law enforcement”, wrote the BBC.
FBI director Christopher Wray, appointed by Trump in 2017, said in a statement that “unfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI erode respect for the rule of law”. He added that “violence and threats against law enforcement, including the FBI, are dangerous and should be deeply concerning to all Americans”.
