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Man who tried to breach FBI office killed after standoff

Man who tried to breach FBI office killed after standoff

WILMINGTON, Ohio (AP) — An armed man clad in body armor who tried to breach the FBI’s Cincinnati office on Thursday was shot and killed by police after he fled the scene and engaged in an hourslong standoff in a rural part of the state, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.

The confrontation came as officials warned of an increase in threats against federal agents in the days following a search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

The man is believed to have been in Washington on the days leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and may have been present at the Capitol on the day of the attack, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the matter. The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The suspect was identified as Ricky Shiffer, 42, according to the law enforcement official. He was not charged with any crimes in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, the official said. Federal investigators are examining whether Shiffer may have had ties to far-right extremist groups, including the Proud Boys, the official said.

Shiffer “attempted to breach” the visitor screening area at the FBI office at around 9:15 am, and fled when agents confronted him, according to federal authorities’ account of the incident. After fleeing onto Interstate 71, he was spotted by a trooper and fired shots as the trooper pursued him, said Lt. Nathan Dennis, an Ohio State Highway Patrol spokesperson, at a press conference.

Shiffer left the interstate north of Cincinnati and abandoned his car on rural roads, where he exchanged gunfire with police and sustained injuries, although no one else was hurt, Dennis said.

Shiffer was shot after he raised a gun toward police at around 3 pm Thursday, Dennis said. The fatal encounter with police happened after negotiations failed and police tried unsuccessfully to use “less lethal tactics,” Dennis said, without providing details.

State highway workers blocked off roads leading to the scene as a helicopter flew over the area. Officials locked down a mile radius near the interstate and urged residents and business owners to lock doors and stay inside. The interstate has been reopened.

There have been growing threats in recent days against FBI agents and offices across the country since federal agents executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. On Gab, a popular social media site with white supremacists and antisemites, users have warned they are preparing for an armed revolution.

Federal officials have also been tracking an array of other concerning chatter on Gab and other platforms threatening violence against federal agents. FBI Director Christopher Wray denounced the threats as he visited another FBI office in Nebraska on Wednesday.

“Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with,” Wray said Wednesday in Omaha.

The FBI on Wednesday also warned its agents to avoid protesters and ensure their security key cards are “not visible outside FBI space,” citing an increase in social media threats to bureau personnel and facilities. It also warned agents to be aware of their surroundings and potential protesters.

The warning did not specifically mention this week’s search for Mar-a-Lago but attributed the online threats to “recent media reporting on FBI investigative activity.”

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Welsh-Huggins reported from Columbus, Ohio. Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report.

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Business

John Barilaro appointment: US documents show NSW trade staffers in New York earn a combined $961k

John Barilaro appointment: US documents show NSW trade staffers in New York earn a combined $961k

Four NSW trade staffers earning a combined $961,000 are working in the New York trade office where John Barilaro was going to be employed.

Foreign agent registration papers lodged with the US government two weeks ago show the four staffers will be employed full-time on the 34th floor of an office building in the heart of mid-town Manhattan, directly opposite the landmark Chrysler Building.

It’s the same building that houses the Consulate General of Australia and the federal government’s Austrade office.

One of the four people who registered with the Justice Department is the state’s current Trade and Investment Commissioner Joe Kaesshaefer, who works out of a WeWork office in San Francisco in California.

He told the US government his “primary business address” would be the office in New York, but an Investment NSW spokesman said he would actually continue to work from San Francisco.

“Mr Kaesshaefer will remain in San Francisco and travel as required,” the spokesman said.

It’s understood Mr Kaesshaefer will work from home.

Mr Barilaro would have been the boss of the New York office and had planned to begin that work last month, but he was forced to give up the job after public outrage over his appointment.

Mr Kaesshaefer declared to the US government that his role would be managing the operations in the New York office on a full-time basis, earning about $264,000 a year.

Two other staffers will earn about $230,000 each per year, and the fourth about $237,000.

The three junior staffers will all have the title Trade and Investment Director and each said they’d be “responsible for building and maintaining bilateral relationships with US government officials and business leaders for the promotion of trade and investment opportunities in NSW”.

All four staffers are US citizens.

“Investment NSW’s international network of staff provide vital on the ground support to help NSW exporters to succeed internationally as well as facilitating new investment opportunities for companies looking to grow or establish their business in NSW,” the agency spokesman said.

“New York-based staff currently report to the San Francisco-based Trade and Investment Commissioner, who has been in the role for more than five years.”

The declarations, which the US government requires from anyone intending to do work in the country on behalf of a foreign government, also reveal the trade office had set aside $100,000 for “disseminating information”.

A job contract signed by Mr Barilaro for the role of Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas, which was released to parliament this week, showed he was meant to be seconded to a corporation the NSW government set up in the US once his visa had come through.

The company, NSW Government US Office, Inc, was registered as a non-profit, nonstock corporation the day before New Year’s Eve with Investment NSW chief executive Amy Brown as head of the company, US records show.

A senior deputy of hers, Kylie Bell, is listed as the company’s director.

The company was registered in the corporate haven of Delaware, a state with beneficial regulations for companies.

The NSW government hired the prominent registered agent Corporation Trust Company to incorporate the US operation, and the government trade office was formally registered at 1209 Orange Street in Wilmington, Delaware, an address famous for housing thousands of companies.

Ms Brown has previously told a parliamentary committee looking into the hiring of Mr Barilaro that the lease for the 103.7 square meter New York office was signed on September 1 last year.

“It was taken as a shell, and it took six months minimum to do the fit-out to make it a usable office space,” Ms Brown said.

The fit-out of the office cost $905,000, she said.

Ms Brown gave evidence to the committee again on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, Premier Dominic Perrottet announced his Trade Minister, Stuart Ayres, would resign over the Barilaro appointment.

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