Federal investigators are looking into social media accounts they believe are linked to the gunman, 42-year-old Ricky Schiefer, 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 after Shiffer attempted to hack the FBI office. It read: “If you don’t have news, it’s true that I tried to attack the FBI.” Another message posted on the same site this week by @rickywshifferjr included a “call to arms” and urged people to “be ready for battle” following the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida . Authorities are also looking into whether Shiffer, a Navy veteran, had ties to far-right extremist groups such as the Proud Boys, the official said. Schieffer 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 on Thursday, according to the official. Siefer fled when the agents confronted him. He was later spotted by a state trooper along a highway and got into a fight that ended with police killing him, authorities said. The outburst of violence unfolded amid warnings from the FBI that federal agents could face attacks following the Florida investigation. The FBI is investigating what happened in Cincinnati as an act of domestic extremism, according to the law enforcement official. Schieffer is believed to have been in Washington in the days leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and may have been at the Capitol that day, but has not been charged with crimes in connection with the riot, the official said. Officials have warned of an increase in right-wing threats against federal agents since the FBI entered Trump’s estate 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 protested the investigation, accusing the FBI and Justice Department of using the legal system as a political weapon. FBI Director Christopher Wray denounced the threats as he visited an FBI office in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday, saying, “Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with.” The FBI also warned its agents on Wednesday to avoid protesters and ensure their security key cards “are not visible outside of FBI premises,” citing an increase in social media threats against office staff and offices. A now-suspended Twitter account, @rickyshiffer, shared the same profile picture as the Truth Social account and similar views, including a call for armed conflict in the US last spring. It included posts saying that “elections are being rigged” against conservatives and that the country is facing “tyranny”. “I don’t think it’s an isolated incident,” said Amy Cooter, a researcher at Middlebury College who specializes in militias. “I’m afraid there will be a pocket full of people who feel compelled to act.” Courthouses, government offices and election offices could all be targets, he said. “Anywhere is fair game now because these people feel like this is a personal issue for them,” Cooter said. Schiffer worked as an electrician, according to one of his social media profiles. He was a registered Republican who voted in the 2020 primary from Columbus, Ohio, and in the 2020 general election from Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to public records. Court records show the Ohio Department of Taxation filed suit against him in June, seeking a judgment for a $553 tax lien, according to court records that list him at an address in St. Petersburg, Florida. He also previously lived at several addresses in Columbus and Omaha, Nebraska. He graduated from high school in central Pennsylvania in 1998 and enlisted in the Navy that same year, later serving on the submarine USS Columbia until 2003, according to military records. He was an infantryman in the Florida Army National Guard from 2008 to 2011, when he was honorably discharged. “I know he was very into World War II and the military,” said Lori Frady, a classmate at West Perry High School in Eliotsburg, who hadn’t seen Sifer since his graduation. “He didn’t have many friends, but the friends he did have were big on 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, Nebraska, and Jim Mustian and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report. exhibition.
Hendrickson is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative corps. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places reporters in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues.
