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US: Man crashes car into Atlanta FBI office, arrested
No injuries have been reported in the incident.
The DeKalb county police in the US has arrested a person for ramming his vehicle into the entrance gate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Atlanta field office on Monday afternoon, in an attempt to gain entry to the facility, CNN said in a report.
The suspect, who has not been named, was then taken to the hospital for evaluation. There were no injuries reported in the incident. Bomb technicians have also cleared the vehicle, CNN quoted an official associated with the law enforcement.
“He … tried getting into the gate, but our security precautions prevented him from getting in… This time we are looking at both state and federal charges,” FBI assistant special agent in charge Peter Ellis was quoted by the media house.
FBI assistant special agent Ellis added that the suspect was not associated with the facility and was attempting to follow an employee into the front gate.
The incident occurred two weeks after the FBI field office in Atlanta conducted a tabletop exercise with personnel to test procedures for responding to unauthorized entry, CNN said in its report. The FBI recently ramped up security in its premises amid threats to its personnel following the 2022 attempted breach of an FBI field office in the US city of Cincinnati.
In 2022, a gunman who tried to breach an FBI office in Cincinnati was fatally shot in a confrontation with police. Ohio authorities have identified the individual as Ricky W. Shiffer from Columbus. Officials reported that the man, wearing body armour, attempted to breach the entrance to the visitor screening facility situated outside the F.B.I. Cincinnati field office in Kenwood suburb. The incident gained widespread attention sparking anger among some conservative groups.
The FBI Cincinnati field office is one of the regional offices of the agency that covers the southern half of Ohio and is responsible for investigating federal crimes within its jurisdiction. It collaborates with other law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, and local levels to combat crime and protect national security.
