Standoff ends with armed man accused of trying to breach Ohio FBI office
An hours-long police standoff with a man who allegedly tried to breach the FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Thursday ended around 4:30 p.m.
The Clinton County Emergency Management Agency wrote in a Facebook post that the law enforcement response and operations on a major highway near Wilmington, Ohio, had concluded, but did not give any other details.
A lockdown, which had covered a one-mile radius, is being lifted, and roads are being slowly reopened, according to the Clinton emergency agency.
The Hill has reached out to the agency and local police for comment.
The Cincinnati FBI field office said an armed suspect attempted to breach its visitor screening facility around 9 a.m..
After a swift response by FBI special agents, the suspect fled toward Interstate 71 with the Ohio State Highway Patrol in pursuit.
The suspect, wearing a gray shirt and body armor, soon stopped between I-71 and State Route 73, near Wilmington, where he allegedly traded shots with police officers.
Police had set up a perimeter around the area as they engaged in the standoff.
According to a live blog from the Wilmington News Journal, which reviewed police scanners, the suspect was a white male wearing an orange shirt with sunglasses and driving a Ford Crown Victoria. He later changed into the gray shirt.
The incident drew Ohio State Police, FBI agents, at least two county sheriff’s offices and several emergency personnel, according to the news outlet.
As police and choppers surrounded him, the suspect was perched near his vehicle with a rifle, according to the Wilmington News Journal, which reported a visible blood splatter near his right thigh.
The news comes just days after the FBI conducted a sweeping raid of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Republicans have decried the raid as a politically motivated stunt, with some calling for the FBI to be defunded.
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