Ohio FBI shooting - latest: ‘Violent extremist’ Ricky Shiffer investigated for months after Jan 6

Republicans in Congress who are relying on Donald Trump to excite voters in the fall elections are not only defending the former president against the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home but politically capitalizing on it with grave and potentially dangerous rhetoric against the nation’s justice system.

The party that once stood staunchly for law-and-order has dramatically reversed course, stirring up opposition to the FBI and tapping into political grievances and far-right conspiracies that fed the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

It’s all part of the GOP’s election year strategy to harness voter outrage over the unprecedented search, quickly and unequivocally set in motion as Trump hosted a dozen Republicans for dinner of steak and scallops at his private Bedminster club the day after the FBI action.

More from the AP.

Law enforcement officers shot and killed an Ohio man named Ricky Shiffer on Thursday afternoon, after the 42-year-old allegedly attacked an FBI field office in Cincinnati armed with a nail gun and an assault rifle.

Shiffer, who lived in the city of Columbus, Ohio, according to public records obtained by the Daily Beast, reportedly left a string of violent comments on social media in recent months ahead of the attack.

Here’s everything we know about Ricky Shiffer.

Federal officials were looking into Ricky Shiffer for months, long before the Ohio gunman attacked an FBI office in Cincinnati on Thursday and was killed in a firefight with police.

Officials were looking into whether Shiffer was involved in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol or tied to extremist groups there, the New York Times reports.

A neighbour told the Times that federal agents had showed up at their apartment complex and asked questions.

Social media accounts appearing to belong to Shiffer posted about being at the January 6 riot.

Ricky Shiffer has been considered a “suspected domestic violent extremist” by investigators, law enforcement officials were reported as saying on Friday.

An official told ABC News that Shiffer was being investigated as a “suspected domestic violent extremist” and that his social media history was under investigation following the attack on an FBI office on Thursday.

The report cited his social media posts on Twitter and Truth Social, the platform set-up by Donald Trump after leaving office.

Read more:

ICYMI: Ricky Shiffer, the Ohio man who died in an armed standoff with police on Thursday after attacking an FBI field office in Cincinnati, was a military veteran.

The 42-year-old served in the Navy on a nuclear submarine and later in the National Guard, Military.com reports.

The Ohio man enlisted in the Navy soon after high school, The Washington Post reports.

Shiffer grew up on a small family farm in Perry County, Pennsylvania, near the Susquehanna River, the oldest of four siblings.More details can be found in our full report.

ICYMI: Attacks from Donald Trump and leading Republican politicians are creating a dangerous climate of anti-law enforcement sentiment in the US, according to a former FBI agent.

“All of this rhetoric is being thrown around without any consideration for possible consequences,” Frank Montoya Jr, a retired FBI special agent who led the bureau’s field offices in Seattle and Honolulu, told The Associated Press on Friday.

“All that does is stir up that minority within the base that aren’t satisfied with just words, they actually want to act it out.”

As Bevan Hurley has reported, ex-FBI officials are worried the Ohio attack could act as a rallying cry for others bent on violence against the agency.

ICYMI: Ricky Shiffer, the 42-year-old suspect who attacked an FBI field office in Ohio, has been considered a “suspected domestic violent extremist” by investigators, reports say.

A law enforcement official told ABC News on Friday that Shiffer was being investigated as a “suspected domestic violent extremist” and that his social media history was under investigation following the attack on an FBI office on Thursday.

Investigators are also looking at whether or not Shiffer had ties to far-right extremist groups such as the Proud Boys, whose members have been charged with taking part in January 6, as per the Associated Press.

Shiffer appeared to call for the killing of FBI agents “on sight” in posts on Truth Social, the social media platform set-up by Donald Trump, in the days before the attack, NBC News reported on Thursday.

Catch up on Gino Spocchia’s reporting.

ICYMI: Federal officials were looking into Ricky Shiffer for months, long before the Ohio gunman attacked an FBI office in Cincinnati on Thursday and was killed in a firefight with police.

Officials were looking into whether Shiffer was involved in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol or tied to extremist groups there, the New York Times reports.

A neighbour told the Times that federal agents had showed up at their apartment complex and asked questions.

Social media accounts appearing to belong to Shiffer posted about being at the January 6 riot.

ICYMI: Ricky Shiffer, the Ohio man who died in an armed standoff with police on Thursday after attacking an FBI field office in Cincinnati, was a military veteran.

The 42-year-old served in the Navy on a nuclear submarine and later in the National Guard, Military.com reports.

Shiffer was in the Navy between 1998 and 2003, serving as a fire control technician and operating onboard the nuclear-powered USS Columbia in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, earning no awards or decorations. The position meant he was responsible for the systems used to maintain and fire the craft’s advanced weapons.

More details here:

ICYMI: After officials identified Ricky Shiffer of Ohio as the man who attacked a Cincinnati FBI office on Thursday, those who knew the gunman, who was killed by police, began to share their recollections.

Ian McConnell was Shiffer’s neighbour in the Greystone Apartments complex in Columbus, Ohio, where Shiffer lived between 2017 and 2020.

Shiffer was slightly odd but didn’t raise any alarm bells, Mr McConnell told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“We knew he was a bit off,” McConnell said. “He had a little bit of an anger issue about his car, but who doesn’t?”

The former neighbour said he was shocked to learn what happened to Shiffer, who moved away from Columbus with stated aspirations to live out West.

“It was a shock to us he wound up in Cincinnati,” Mr McConnell said. “I’m afraid this is coming two years too late and Ricky got picked up by the wrong crowd.”