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An armed man has attempted to breach the FBI field office in Cincinnati prompting a shootout with police.
At approximately 9 AM this morning an armed subject attempted to breach the Visitor Screening Facility at #FBI Cincinnati,” the FBI said. “After an alarm and a response by FBI special agents, the subject fled north onto Interstate 71.”
Homeland Security shows up to @FBICincinnati here in Kenwood after alert about possible incident here earlier. @Local12 pic.twitter.com/vkAw1laHbM
— James Pilcher (@jamespilcher) August 11, 2022
“Clinton Co EMA: Reminder a LOCKDOWN is in effect for a one mile radius from the intersection of Smith Road and Center Road. Residents and businesses in this area should lock their doors and remain vigilant. Law enforcement has traded shots with a male suspect who is wearing a gray shirt and body armor. Also, Interstate 71 is closed in both directions between the US 68 exit to the north and the SR 73 exit to the south. Additionally, State Route 73 is closed between Mitchell Roads and State Route 380. More information as it becomes available,” Clinton County Emergency Management said on Facebook.
It appears that the suspect has not been apprehended and the FBI is engaged in a standoff with the suspect, ABC 7 reported.
The standoff comes after a pursuit on I-71 in Clinton County, Ohio.
The FBI said at 9 a.m., an armed man attempted to break into the visitor screening facility at the Cincinnati FBI office.
The man then fled north onto I-71 in Clinton County, Ohio.
The FBI, Ohio State Highway Patrol and local law enforcement are currently engaged in a standoff with the suspect in Wilmington, Ohio.
The standoff comes after the FBI raided the home of former President Donald Trump, though the motive for the crime is not known as of this writing.
FBI Director Christopher Wray refused to directly address questions about an FBI raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence conducted earlier this week.
While speaking with reporters, Wray did find the time to denounce “deplorable” threats against law enforcement in his first public comments since the search in Florida.
Asked to respond to Trump’s suggestion, Wray declined to jump into the fray. “As I’m sure you can appreciate, that’s not something I can talk about,” he said. Wray then referred such a question to the Department of Justice.
Wray did answer a question from a reporter asking about threats made against agents.
“Any threats made against law enforcement, including the men and women of the FBI, as with any law enforcement agency, are deplorable and dangerous,” the FBI director said.
WATCH:
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Biden Justice Department to produce a copy of a search warrant executed at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where the FBI conducted a nine-hour-plus search on Monday.
Federal Judge Bruce Reinhart ordered the DOJ to “file a Response to the Motion to Unseal” the warrant after requests were made by the Times-Union, a newspaper located in Albany, N.Y., as well as the conservative legal group Judicial Watch.
The judge said that the DOJ must respond no later than Aug. 15, reports said.
Reinhart signed off on the FBI’s warrant to search the former president’s palatial home in South Florida in what he said was an “unannounced raid on my home.”
He took a leave of absence from a local U.S. Attorney’s office more than 10 years ago to represent employees of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein after they had gotten immunity during the lengthy probe of the now-late financier for sex trafficking.
Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan said that the warrant was “sealed” when agents showed up to search Trump’s estate.
Another Trump lawyer, Christian Bobb, meanwhile, told streaming network Real America’s Voice: “When I arrived and kind of announced myself as the legal representation for President Trump. I asked to see a copy of the warrant.”
Republicans are vowing to “clean house” in the wake of the FBI raiding Trump’s home in Florida.
“This is Gestapo crap and it will not stand. The Department of Injustice needs to be cleaned out if they are going to start pretending we are some kind of banana republic,” Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican, went on to say in a video she posted on Twitter.
Arizona GOP Rep. Paul Gosar issued a similar response, saying: “I will support a complete dismantling and elimination of the democrat brown shirts known as the FBI. This is too much for our republic to withstand.”
“DEFUND THE FBI!” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a member of the GOP from Georgia, stated in a post on Twitter.
“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Attorney General Merrick Garland should preserve documents and clear his calendar because the GOP will investigate the raid if they retake the majority. Ms. Boebert made a similar vow in her Twitter video,” the report said.
“The FBI raiding Donald Trump is unprecedented. It is corrupt & an abuse of power,” Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz wrote on Twitter. “What Nixon tried to do, Biden has now implemented: The Biden Admin has fully weaponized DOJ & FBI to target their political enemies.”
