Cincinnati FBI attacker grew up on central Pennsylvania farm

The gunman who tried to breach the FBI field office in Cincinnati on Thursday grew up on a farm in Perry County, in central Pennsylvania, The Washington Post reported. 

Ricky W. Shiffer fled after he attempted to break into the FBI office’s visitor screening area, the agency said. He led police on a chase that ended in a six-hour stand-off when he stopped on a rural road outside Cincinnati.

Shiffer, 42, was shot and killed by police after he raised a gun, authorities said. 

Citing a relative who declined to be identified, the Post reported that Shiffer was the oldest of four children. His father was a mechanic and his mother worked for an insurance company.

After graduating from high school in Perry County, Shiffer left the small family farm to join the U.S. Navy, where he was a fire-control specialist aboard a submarine.

Shiffer was a prolific poster on former President Donald Trump’s social media site, Truth Social, where he called for “all-out war” after the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate Monday in Palm Beach.

Several news organizations reported an account with Shiffer’s name had more than 300 posts on the site, including incitements to violence against the FBI. It appeared that Shiffer posted about his attempt to breach the bullet-proof glass at the FBI office just after the incident.

“If you don’t hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I.,” the post said.