According to fresh accounts, the guy who was killed in a police firefight after storming an FBI field office in Ohio was a Navy veteran who had had top-secret clearance and had been under FBI scrutiny for months.
Ricky Walter Shiffer Jr, 42, died on Thursday after police followed and surrounded him after attempting to penetrate the field office in Cincinnati with a nail gun and brandishing an AR-15-style weapon.
Shiffer’s postings on Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform imply that he carried out the ill-fated attempt in retaliation for the FBI’s raid and search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this week.
Shiffer was an enlisted sailor who served aboard the USS Columbia attack submarine, which required top-secret security, as well as an infantryman in the Florida National Guard, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The FBI also stated that it has been examining Shiffer for months in connection with the US Capitol incident and another subject, but that it was not aware of a’specific and serious threat.’
The FBI is said to have been looking into a video of Shiffer from a protest in Washington DC on January 5, 2020, and determining if he stormed the Capitol the next day.
In addition, the FBI said in a statement that it got a tip about Shiffer in May that was unrelated to the Capitol incident, and investigators launched a second investigation.
Without elaborating on the nature of the second inquiry, the FBI said that it had attempted to interview Shiffer many times but had been unable to find him.
Neighbors near Shiffer’s Columbus apartment told the New York Times that federal officials had visited many weeks earlier and inquired about Shiffer, including when he generally left and came home for the day.
Shiffer’s earlier military experience is now being revealed in more detail.
Shiffer enrolled in the Navy in 1998, shortly after graduating from high school in Pennsylvania, and attended the Navy’s submarine school in Connecticut.
He worked as a fire-control technician on the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Columbia for four years, monitoring and repairing weapons systems.
All sailors engaged in that capacity, which involves dealing with classified weapons systems aboard the Navy’s most secretive ships, must pass background checks for top secret clearance.
The Navy, on the other hand, refused to confirm whether Shiffer had such a clearance before or after his service, stating simply that he would have had to pass the thorough background check necessary to have one.
Even after leaving the military, service personnel often maintain eligibility for security clearance, despite the fact that they no longer have access to military secrets.
Shiffer retired from the Navy in 2003 as an E-5 fire control technician second class.
From 2008 to 2011, Schiffer also served in the Florida National Guard, achieving to the rank of E-4. He served in Iraq for a year, beginning in January 2010, and left the army soon after his return.
According to a law enforcement official, federal authorities are looking into social media accounts they suspect are linked to Shiffer.
One of the posts on Trump’s Truth Social media platform appears to have been placed after Shiffer attempted to break into the FBI headquarters. ‘If you don’t hear from me, it is true that I attempted to assault the F.B.I.,’ it said.
Another message posted this week on the same site by @rickywshifferjr featured a ‘call to arms’ and advised people to ‘be ready for fight’ in the aftermath of the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
Authorities are also investigating if Shiffer, a Navy veteran, has links to far-right extremist organizations such as the Proud Boys, according to the source.
Shiffer was equipped with a nail gun and an AR-15-style weapon when he attempted to enter the FBI headquarters on Thursday, according to the official. When agents approached Shiffer, he escaped.
He was subsequently recognized by a state trooper along a highway and engaged in a gunfight with police, which resulted in his death, according to officials.
The outbreak of violence occurred despite FBI warnings that federal investigators may suffer assaults as a result of the search in Florida.
According to the law enforcement source, the FBI is looking into what occurred in Cincinnati as an act of domestic extremism.
Shiffer is thought to have been in Washington in the days preceding up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurgency and may have been at the Capitol that day, but he was not charged with any offenses in connection with the disturbance, according to the official.
Officials have warned of an increase in right-wing threats against federal agents since the FBI raided Trump’s residence as part of an investigation into whether he took secret materials with him when he left the White House.
Supporters of the former president have slammed the investigation, accusing the FBI and Justice Department of using the legal system as a political tool.
On Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray condemned the threats while visiting an FBI office in Omaha, Nebraska, stating, ‘Violence against law enforcement is not the solution, regardless of who you’re furious with.’
The FBI also told its agents on Wednesday to avoid demonstrators and keep their security key cards ‘not visible outside FBI premises,’ noting an upsurge in social media threats against agency staff and buildings.
A now-defunct Twitter account, @rickyshiffer, used the same profile photo as Truth Social and had identical views, including a demand for military war in the United States this spring.
It included messages claiming that ‘elections are rigged’ against conservatives and that the nation is under the grip of ‘tyranny.’
‘I don’t believe it’s a one-time occurrence,’ said Amy Cooter, a Middlebury College scholar and militia specialist. ‘I’m concerned there will be a pocket full of individuals who feel forced to act,’ says the author.
Courthouses, government buildings, and election headquarters, she claimed, may all be targets. ‘Anywhere is fair game today because these people see it as a personal matter,’ Cooter said.
According to one of his social media pages, Shiffer worked as an electrician. According to public records, he was a registered Republican who voted in the 2020 primary from Columbus, Ohio, and in the general election from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
According to court documents, the Ohio Department of Taxation filed action against him in June, seeking a $553 tax lien judgment. He is listed as living in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has also previously resided at several places in Columbus and Omaha, Nebraska.
According to military records, he graduated from high school in central Pennsylvania in 1998 and enrolled in the Navy the following year, serving aboard the USS Columbia submarine until 2003. He served in the Florida Army National Guard as an infantryman from 2008 until 2011, when he was honorably discharged.
‘I know he was very into WWII and the military,’ said Lori Frady, an Elliottsburg West Perry High School classmate who hadn’t seen Shiffer since graduation. ‘He didn’t have many friends, but the ones he did have were interested in history and military history.’