Ohio gunman appeared to threaten FBI after search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The gunman who died in a shootout Thursday after trying to get inside the FBI’s Cincinnati office had apparently called on social media for federal agents to be killed “on sight” in response to the search at former President 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, 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 by Shiffer on Thursday after he tried to breach the FBI office. It read: “If you don’t hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I.”
Another message posted on the site this week by @rickywshifferjr included a “call to arms” and urged people to “be ready for combat” after Monday’s FBI search at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
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 gunfight that ended with police killing him, authorities said.
The burst of violence unfolded amid FBI warnings that federal agents could face attacks after the search in Florida.
The FBI is investigating the Cincinnati incident as an act of domestic extremism, according to the law enforcement official.
Former President Trump is calling for the ‘immediate’ release of the federal warrant the FBI used to search his Florida estate.
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 that attack, the official said.
Officials have warned of a rise in right-wing threats against federal agents since the FBI entered Trump’s estate with a search warrant Monday 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 A. Wray, who was appointed by Trump, denounced the threats as he visited a bureau office in Omaha on Wednesday, saying, “Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with.”
The FBI warned its agents Wednesday to avoid protesters and ensure their security key cards were “not visible outside FBI space,” citing an increase in social media threats against bureau personnel and offices.
A now-suspended Twitter account, @rickyshiffer, had the same profile picture as the Truth Social account and shared similar opinions, including a call this spring for armed conflict in the U.S.
It included posts saying that “elections are rigged” against conservatives and that the country faces “tyranny.”
Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland made his first public comments since the FBI search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence earlier this week.
“I don’t think it’s a one-off incident,” said Amy Cooter, a Middlebury College researcher and expert on militias. “I’m afraid there’s going to be a pocket full of people who feel compelled to act.”
Courthouses, government offices and election headquarters all could be targets, she said, adding that “anywhere is fair game now, because these folks feel this a personal issue for them.”
Shiffer worked as an electrician, according to one social media profile believed to be his. He was a registered Republican who voted in the 2020 primary from Columbus, Ohio, and in the 2020 general election from Tulsa, Okla., according to public records.
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, Fla. He also previously lived at several addresses in Columbus and in Omaha.
He graduated from high school in central Pennsylvania in 1998 and enlisted in the Navy that year, later serving on the submarine Columbia until 2003, according to military records. He was an infantry soldier in the Florida Army National Guard from 2008 to 2011, when he was honorably discharged.
“I know he was way into World War II and the military,” said Lori Frady, a classmate of Shiffer’s at West Perry High School in Elliottsburg, Pa., who had not seen him since graduation. “He didn’t have a lot of friends, but the friends he did have were big into history and military history.”
Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa, John Seewer in Toledo, Margery Beck in Omaha, and Jim Mustian and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.
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