Saturday 13 August 2022 06:13 AM FBI office gunman was US Navy veteran who'd been on Bureau's radar for months trends now
Ricky Walter Shiffer Jr, 42, died on Thursday after trying to breach an FBI field office
The man who was killed in a police shootout after attacking an FBI field office in Ohio was a Navy veteran who once had top-secret clearance, and had been under FBI investigation for months, according to new reports.
Ricky Walter Shiffer Jr, 42, died on Thursday after trying to breach the field office in Cincinnati with a nail gun and brandishing an AR-15-style rifle when police pursued and cornered him.
Shiffer's posts on Donald Trump's Truth Social platform suggest that he undertook the doomed attack in revenge for the FBI's raid and search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence earlier this week.
Shiffer had been an enlisted sailor who served aboard the USS Columbia attack submarine - a job that requires top-secret clearance - and also served as an infantryman in the Florida National Guard, the Wall Street Journal reported.
As well, the FBI confirmed that it had been investigating Shiffer for months in connection with the US Capitol riot and another matter, but the Bureau said that it was not aware of a 'specific and credible threat'.
Police are seen off Interstate 71 in Clinton County near Cincinnati, Ohio, during a standoff Thursday with Ricky Walter Shiffer Jr after he tried to attack an FBI office
Shiffer had been an enlisted sailor who served aboard the USS Columbia attack submarine (seen above) - a job that requires top-secret clearance
The FBI is believed to have been investigating a video that Shiffer appeared in on January 5, 2020 at a demonstration in Washington DC, and attempting to confirm whether he stormed the Capitol the following day.
As well, the FBI said in a statement that it also received a tip about Shiffer in May that was unconnected to the Capitol riot, and agents opened a separate inquiry.
Without specifying the nature of the second investigation, the FBI said that it had tried to interview Shiffer repeatedly but had failed to locate him.
Neighbors who live near Shiffer's apartment in Columbus told the New York Times said federal agents had visited several weeks ago and asked about Shiffer, including when he usually left home for the day and returned.
Further details are also emerging about Shiffer's prior military service.
Soon after graduating high school in Pennsylvania, Shiffer enlisted in the Navy in 1998, and went to the Navy's submarine school in Connecticut.
He served for four years aboard the USS Columbia, a nuclear-powered attack sub, as a fire-control technician, monitoring and maintaining weapons systems.
All sailor serving that role, which deals with classified weapons systems aboard the Navy's most secretive vessels, must pass background checks for top secret clearance.
The FBI is believed to have been investigating a video that Shiffer appeared in on January 5, 2020 at a demonstration in Washington DC, and attempting to confirm whether he stormed the Capitol the following day
Shiffer's social media posts before and during Thursday's attack are seen above
However, the Navy declined to verify whether Shiffer had such a clearance during or after his service, saying only that he would have had to pass the extensive background check required to hold one.
Service members often retain eligibility for security clearance even years after leaving the military, even though they no longer have access to military secrets.
Shiffer left the Navy in 2003 as a fire control technician, second class, with a pay grade of E-5.
Schiffer also served in the Florida National Guard from 2008 to 2011, rising to a pay grade of E-4. He spent a year deployed in Iraq starting in January 2010, leaving the service shortly after his return.
Federal investigators are examining social media accounts they believe are tied to
