Driver crashes car into FBI field office gate in Pittsburgh
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John Yoon
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PITTSBURGH – A driver crashed a car into the entrance gate of an FBI field office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sept 17 and fled on foot in what officials said they believed was a targeted act.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was looking for a suspect, who was named as Mr Donald Henson of Penn Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh, said Mr Bradford Arick, the spokesman for the field office.
The driver was the sole occupant of the vehicle, a white sedan, and there were no injuries, Mr Arick said.
The driver rammed the car into the gate of the compound at 2.45am (2.45pm Singapore time), accelerating right before impact, Mr Arick said.
The driver got out of the vehicle, draped an American flag on the gate and then fled on foot.
The crash damaged the vehicle and the gate.
A bomb squad was deployed to the site after the crash and was processing the scene, but no device was found, Mr Arick said.
The authorities did not know whether the driver was armed, but they believed he did not pose an immediate threat to the public.
“This was certainly targeted against the FBI,” Mr Arick said in a phone interview.
He added later that “we’re urging the public to avoid him but call if they believe they’ve seen him”.
Mr Christopher Giordano, the assistant special agent in charge at the office, told reporters Mr Henson previously visited the FBI office a few weeks ago to make a complaint “that didn’t make a whole lot of sense”.
“We do believe that there is a mental health problem and a history of mental health issues with the subject,” he said.
Ms Eliza Durham, a spokeswoman for the city of Pittsburgh’s Public Safety Department, said the Pittsburgh Police assisted in responding to the crash, and the FBI was leading the investigation into the incident.
FBI field offices have been targeted a few times in recent years.
In April 2024, a man rammed his sport utility vehicle into the security gate at the field office in Atlanta, and was fined around US$25,000 (S$32,000) for destruction of property.
In 2022, officers shot and killed a man after he tried to break into the FBI’s Cincinnati office. NYTIMES
