The FBI's pursuit of an alleged armed gunman ended in death Thursday.
Details continue to emerge about the day-long Aug. 11 incident in which a variety of law enforcement agencies ended up in a standoff near Wilmington with a man who had attempted to break into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Cincinnati field office in Kenwood. Police shot that man.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said, "At approximately 3:42 p.m., the suspect raised a firearm and shots were fired by law enforcement officers. The suspect succumbed to fatal injuries on scene."
The incident remains under investigation.
Is the Cincinnati incident related to Donald Trump?
During an Aug. 12 media briefing, authorities identified the man as Ricky W. Shiffer of Columbus.
Multiple people online have shared screenshots of a person on former U.S. President Donald Trump's social media platform Truth Social with that name and whose bio says he is a Columbus electrician. Echoing far-right rhetoric, that person had posted that "patriots" should "kill the FBI on sight" in Florida – where Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence is – in the wake of the agency searching for classified information that Trump had allegedly removed from the White House.
By law, presidential documents typically are only moved or transferred to other authorities in conjunction with the National Archives and Records Administration (which previous presidents have done), but the National Archives says that Trump had repeatedly stalled attempts to retrieve documents he reportedly took upon exiting the White House as current U.S. President Joe Biden took office in 2021. Earlier this year, the Archives finally did receive 15 boxes of destroyed documents that had included classified information. The FBI began investigating issues related to Trump and the documents.
The Washington Post reports that the information sought by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago was related to "nuclear documents." Trump and many Republicans have claimed that the FBI's search of Trump's residence was an illegal "raid," but legal experts say that an investigation at this level shows that federal officials have "rock-solid evidence," Newsweek reports.
That same Truth Social user also reportedly claimed responsibility for Thursday's incident in Cincinnati in which a man with a rifle and body armor attempted to get past the visitor screening station in the local FBI office.
"Well, I thought I had a way through bullet proof glass, and I didn’t. If you don’t hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I., and it’ll mean either I was taken off the internet, the F.B.I. got me, or they sent the regular cops while" the user reportedly had posted at 9:29 a.m. Aug. 11, trailing off.
Similar Shiffer accounts on other social media platforms professed connections to extremist groups like Proud Boys, previously had posted photos and videos at a Jan. 5, 2021 Trump rally and claimed they were part of the deadly insurrection a day later, the New York Times reports.
Trump also is under investigation for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, as are a number of Republicans, including Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who has repeatedly refused to cooperate. Many of the arrested U.S. Capitol attackers and some Republicans today – including J.D. Vance, who is vying for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat – continue to falsely claim that Biden and Democrats "stole" the 2020 general election from Trump. The attack largely was planned and carried out by Trump supporters who believed the lie, and investigators have said that Trump's allies had tried to pull strings to overturn the election.
Multiple agencies responsible for investigating election fraud repeatedly have found no wrongdoing. Trump had filed multiple lawsuits against election authorities, but judges dismissed them all.
Additionally, a similar Shiffer on Twitter had responded to Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene that "they" were "fixing elections in plain sight" and "The next step is the one we used in 1775," the Daily Beast reports.
Authorities have not confirmed if the Shiffer responsible for the Cincinnati incident and the Shiffer who suggested that social media followers should kill FBI agents were the same person but suggested they were looking into all possibilities.
"Unfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI erode respect for the rule of law and are a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect others. Violence and threats against law enforcement, including the FBI, are dangerous and should be deeply concerning to all Americans," FBI director Christopher A. Wray said Aug. 11. "Every day I see the men and women of the FBI doing their jobs professionally and with rigor, objectivity, and a fierce commitment to our mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution. I am proud to serve alongside them."
Trump had nominated Wray to lead the FBI back in 2017.
The FBI Agents Association also weighed in on Thursday, though it is not clear if the statement is in response to a general rise in threats against FBI agents or to the Cincinnati standoff.
"FBI Special Agents are dedicated members of the law enforcement community who put their lives on the line every day to protect the public from criminals and terrorists. Special Agents and their families should never be threatened with violence, including for doing their jobs," said Brian O’Hare, association president. "The threats made recently contribute to an atmosphere where some have, or will, accept violence against law enforcement as appropriate. It is not. This is not a partisan or political issue. It is a matter of public safety and basic decency. Calls for violence against law enforcement are unacceptable, and should be condemned by all leaders."
What happened on Aug. 11 in Cincinnati?
Around 9:15 a.m. Thursday, the FBI said that a man had tried to break into the Cincinnati bureau. That suspect fled north on I-71, and a variety of law enforcement partners followed him to Wilmington, which is about 40 miles northeast of the FBI's office in Kenwood. On Twitter, the Ohio State Highway Patrol noted that authorities had spotted Shiffer's Crown Victoria, and the chase began. During a post-incident media briefing, Nathan Dennis, a lieutenant with the OSHP, repeated that."On August 11, 2022, at approximately 9:15 EST, the FBI Cincinnati Field Office had an armed subject attempt to breach the Visitor Screening Facility (VSF). Upon the activation of an alarm and a response by armed FBI special agents, the subject fled northbound onto Interstate 71," the Cincinnati bureau of the FBI posted in an Aug. 11 statement. "The FBI, Ohio State Highway Patrol, and local law enforcement partners are on scene near Wilmington, Ohio, trying to resolve this critical incident."
Clinton County's emergency management department posted regular updates to its Facebook account, noting that that the suspect had "traded shots" with law enforcement before 10 a.m. and multiple roads were closed due to police activity. According to emergency management, law enforcement was looking for a "male suspect who is wearing a gray shirt and body armor."
At 9:53 a.m., Shiffer stopped his vehicle on Smith Road near Wilmington and again traded shots with officers before hiding behind his car and beginning the standoff between the two sides, the OSHP said. Clinton County went into lockdown for all buildings within a mile of the intersection at Smith Road and Center Road in Chester Township. The intersection is in a rural area surrounded by farmland and fields, but there are facilities within the vicinity.
The highway patrol said that officers had attempted to negotiate with Shiffer and had tried to end the situation with "non-lethal" tactics. At around 2:30 p.m., the county's emergency management department posted that the suspect had been "contained" but had not yet been taken into custody.
"LOCKDOWN still in effect for 1 mile radius of Center & Smith Roads. Please remain indoors and keep your doors locked. Suspect has not yet been taking [sic] into custody, but is contained," the department said.
State and local authorities had closed down multiple highways and roads as law enforcement pursued the suspect. Interstate 71, which runs north to Columbus and beyond, had been closed for much of the pursuit, but the Ohio Department of Transportation reopened it around 2:30 p.m.
Shiffer was shot dead at or just before 3:45 p.m., the OSHP and FBI say
"At approximately 3:42 p.m., the suspect raised a firearm and shots were fired by law enforcement officers. The suspect succumbed to fatal injuries on scene," the OSHP posted to Twitter.
"The subject shot at law enforcement officers. During the incident, law enforcement also fired their weapons. At approximately 3:45 PM, the subject was shot and is deceased," the FBI said on Twitter.
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