The Chicago FBI field office was rocked by a security incident on Thursday, the latest scare affecting the bureau amid concerns about increasing threats against federal law enforcement.
A person jumped the Chicago office’s fence and began throwing rocks at the building, Federal Protective Service spokesperson Robert Sperling confirmed to the Washington Examiner. Federal officers, with help from Chicago police, took the person to a hospital for evaluation.
The incident occurred at about 11 a.m. at the Chicago field office located on Roosevelt Road, FBI Special Agent Siobhan Johnson told the Washington Examiner. There are no reported injuries or threats to the public, she added.
This comes two weeks after the Ohio State Highway Patrol exchanged fire with a man attempting to break into an FBI field office located in Cincinnati with a weapon. The man, Ricky Shiffer, 42, of Columbus, Ohio, was known to the FBI with a connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and ties to a far-right extremist group, according to ABC 7 News. He was killed in a standoff after leading law enforcement on a vehicle chase that lasted several hours.
Threats against law enforcement, particularly the FBI, have increased dramatically since the raid on former President Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in a documents investigation.
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A memo, released internally to law enforcement agencies by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, stated that they had “observed an increase in violent threats posted on social media against federal officials and facilities, including a threat to place a so-called dirty bomb in front of FBI Headquarters and issuing general calls for ‘civil war’ and ‘armed rebellion.'”
FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement on Aug. 11 that violence and threats against law enforcement should be concerning to all.
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“Unfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI erode respect for the rule of law and are a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect others,” Wray said.
