You’ve heard of bringing a knife to a gunfight, but what about bringing a nail gun to an FBI standoff?
That’s what one assailant did bright and early on the morning of August 11, taking shots at FBI personnel with a nail gun before brandishing an AR-15 style gun and fleeing.
Authorities say that at about 9:15 a.m., an armed man with body armor, tried to breach the FBI’s field office in Cincinnati, Ohio. While attempting to enter the visitor’s screening area, someone sounded the alarm, and agents confronted the man. He fired a nail gun toward the agents and displayed an AR-15 style gun, before fleeing in a car.
The man is described was being bald and wearing sunglasses and body armor, the height of fashion for ill-advised attacks on FBI field offices.
The assailant then fled northbound on Interstate 71, where he was spotted about 20 minutes later by a state trooper. A traffic stop was attempted and failed as the shooter fired his weapon at the trooper, who was understandably mad about this and gave chase.
The chase carried into a cornfield, where the man, later identified as Ricky Shiffer, exited the car and aimed a pistol at police, leading to a perimeter being set up by the cops. Shots were fired back and forth between law enforcement and the Shiffer was injured in the leg. Clinton County Emergency Management Agency said, “Law enforcement has traded shots with a male suspect who is wearing a gray shirt and body armor,” A lockdown was in effect within a one-mile radius of the standoff scene, with police instructing people to lock their doors and stay inside.
Police confirmed that the shooter had a gunshot wound to his leg, and later died from his injuries. No police were injured in the attack.
Police have some idea about why this carpenter wannabe showed up at the field office. Much speculation abounds that it has to do with the rise in anti-FBI sentiment after the FBI searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
Social media platforms and intelligence firms have noticed a massive increase in threats against the FBI, prompting FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday to condemn violent rhetoric against law enforcement. “I’m always concerned about threats to law enforcement,” Wray said in a press conference. “Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with.”
Police updated the incident later in the day. The man, identified by two law enforcement sources as Ricky Shiffer, 42, died in the confrontation with police. He reportedly posted online in recent days about his desire to kill FBI agents shortly after former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was searched. Shiffer attended the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, according to his appearance in photos taken from the day of the attack, but it’s not confirmed whether he went inside the building. Shiffer posted about his attendance at the Capitol on social media.