Ohio FBI shooting: Gunman reportedly threatened agency following raid of Trump's home
Standoff continues with armed male subject who attempted to enter Ohio FBI office
Ohio law enforcement officials confirmed a male subject is engaged in a standoff with officers after attempting to gain entry into the FBI Cincinnati Field Office Thursday morning. The unidentified male subject fled the scene after failing to gain entry and engaged officers in a pursuit.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A gunman who died in a shootout after trying to get inside the FBI’s Cincinnati office appeared to have posted calls on social media for FBI agents to be killed and for people to take up arms and "be ready for combat" in the wake of the search at Donald Trump’s home, a law enforcement official said.
Federal investigators are examining social media accounts they believe are tied to the gunman, 42-year-old Ricky Shiffer, and posts that urged violence after the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, according to the official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
At least one of the messages on Trump’s Truth Social media platform appeared to have been posted after Shiffer tried to breach the FBI office. It said: "If you don’t hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I."
Another posted on the same site earlier this week from @rickywshifferjr included a "call to arms" and urged people to "be ready for combat" after the search.
Authorities also are looking into whether Shiffer, a Navy veteran, had ties to far-right extremist groups such as the Proud Boys, the official said.
Shiffer was armed with a nail gun and an AR-15-style rifle when he tried to breach the visitor screening area at the FBI office Thursday, according to the official. Shiffer fled when agents confronted him.
He was later spotted by a state trooper along a highway and got into a gunbattle that ended with police killing him, authorities said.
The burst of violence unfolded amid FBI warnings that federal agents could face attacks following the search in Florida.
The FBI is investigating what happened in Cincinnati as an act of domestic extremism, according to the law enforcement official.
Donald Trump pleads the fifth in New York deposition | LiveNOW from FOX
Former President Donald Trump said he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, per the advice of his attorneys, during his deposition as part of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil investigation, calling it an "unfounded politically motivated Witch Hunt" and adding that he had "no choice" due to the Biden administration and prosecutors across the nation having "lost all moral and ethical bounds of decency." Trump was set to sit down with attorneys from the state attorney general’s office behind closed doors, just days after the FBI raided his home at Mar-a-Lago, as part of an unrelated federal investigation involving the National Archives and Records Administration and classified materials the former president allegedly took with him from the White House to Palm Beach, Florida, when he left office in January 2021. In a statement Wednesday morning, Trump said: "What Letitia James has tried to do the last three years is a disgrace to the legal system, an affront to New York State taxpayers, and a violation of the solemn rights and protections afforded by the United States Constitution."
Shiffer is believed to have been in Washington in the days leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and may have been at the Capitol that day but was not charged with any crimes in connection with the riot, the official said.
Officials have warned of a rise in right-wing threats against federal agents since the FBI entered Trump's estate in what authorities said was part of an investigation into whether he took classified documents with him after leaving the White House. Supporters of the former president have railed against the search, accusing the FBI and the Justice Department of using the legal system as a political weapon.
FBI Director Christopher Wray denounced the threats as he visited an FBI office in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday, saying, "Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with."
The FBI on Wednesday also warned its agents to avoid protesters and ensure their security key cards are "not visible outside FBI space," citing an increase in social media threats against bureau personnel and offices.
A now-suspended Twitter account, @rickyshiffer, shared the same profile picture as the Truth Social account and similar opinions, including a call for armed conflict in the U.S. this past spring.
It included posts saying that "elections are rigged" against conservatives and that the country faces "tyranny."
Shiffer worked as an electrician, according to one of his social media profiles. He was a registered Republican who voted in the 2020 primary from Columbus, Ohio, and in the 2020 general election from Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to public records.
Court records show the Ohio Department of Taxation filed suit against him in June, seeking a $553 tax lien judgment, according to court records listing him at an address in St. Petersburg, Florida. He also previously lived at several addresses in Columbus and in Omaha, Nebraska.
He enlisted in the Navy in 1998 and served on the USS Columbia submarine from 1999 to 2003, according to military records. He later was an infantry soldier in the Florida Army National Guard from 2008 to 2011, when he was honorably discharged.