Police shot and killed gunman who attempted to breach FBI office in Ohio

Law enforcement near the site of a shooting in Clinton County, Ohio.

(Image credit: AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

published 12 August 2022

Police officers in Ohio shot and killed an armed man on Thursday who authorities say attempted to breach the FBI's Cincinnati field office.

In a statement, the FBI said the man, who was wearing body armor, tried to enter the office's visitor screening facility shortly after 9 a.m. ET. He set off an alarm, and as agents responded, he fled the scene in a white Ford Crown Victoria. While driving on Interstate 71, the suspect was spotted by a trooper, Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Nathan Dennis said, and a chase ensued. The suspect exchanged fire with the officer, and then stopped on a rural road in Clinton County.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Police have not identified the suspect. Two law enforcement sources told The New York Times the man's name is Ricky Shiffer, and he had ties to extremist groups. The Times reports that a user on former President Donald Trump's Truth Social platform with the name Ricky Shiffer wrote that he was at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack. This same user also wrote this week, after FBI agents executed a search warrant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, that "patriots" should go to Florida and kill federal agents. Read more at The New York Times.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox