- Ricky Shiffer was shot and killed after he tried to breach the FBI's Cincinnati field office.
- NBC reported that Shiffer had top-secret clearance when he was in the Navy.
The Ohio gunman who was killed after trying to enter a Cincinnati FBI office was a Navy vet who was known to the government.
Ricky Shiffer had top secret clearance when he was in the Navy. The 42-year-old was assigned to the USS Columbia after enlisting in June 1998 and was in charge of overseeing equipment associated with missiles and torpedoes: "Shiffer had to be eligible for top secret clearance in his job as an E-5," a Navy spokesperson told NBC News.
NBC reported he began incurring a slew of speeding tickets after his five-year stint in the Navy, but his most serious run-in with the law prior to Thursday occurred in 2003.
Shiffer was arrested by the Moorhead, Minnesota, police and charged with "obstructing legal process." Records show he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor a month later. According to NBC, it's not clear what happened in the case because the record has been purged. Moorhead police did not respond to an email from the news outlet requesting more information.
Shiffer was known to the FBI after they learned he had been at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, according to The New York Times. Officers tried to locate and interview him but concluded the information they gathered did not contain a specific and credible threat.
On Thursday, the FBI tweeted that an armed man, later identified as Shiffer, tried to breach their Cincinnati office.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said officers tried to negotiate with Shiffer after a lengthy car chase and made efforts to take him into custody with "less-than-lethal tactics," but fatally shot him after he raised a gun.
Shiffer documented the failed attack on former President Donald Trump's Truth Social network before he was killed.
"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 account @RickyWShifferJr wrote at 9:29 a.m. ET, according to NBC News. The account no longer exists on the platform.
Following the raid on Trump's property at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, Shiffer encouraged violence against the FBI, the outlet reported.
"Kill the FBI on sight and be ready to take down other active enemies of the people and those who try to prevent you from doing it," said one post.
—Travis View (@travis_view) August 11, 2022