Credit...Peter Smith/Associated Press
F.B.I. Arrests Man After Car Crashes Into Field Office Gate in Pittsburgh
A driver rammed into the entrance of the compound and draped an American flag on the gate before fleeing. Officials made an arrest after an hourslong search.
by https://www.nytimes.com/by/john-yoon, https://www.nytimes.com/by/jonathan-wolfe · NY TimesThe F.B.I. arrested a man after a driver crashed a car into the entrance gate of an agency field office in Pittsburgh early Wednesday and draped a flag on the gate in what officials said they believed was a targeted act.
The F.B.I. arrested the man, Donald Henson of Penn Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh, after an hourslong search, said Bradford Arick, the spokesman for the field office. He did not provide details about the arrest.
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 2:45 a.m., 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, Mr. Arick said. A bomb squad was deployed to the site after the crash and was processing the scene early Wednesday, but no device had been found, he added.
The authorities identified Mr. Henson as a suspect shortly after the crash. Christopher Giordano, the assistant special agent in charge at the office, told reporters Wednesday morning that Mr. Henson had previously visited the F.B.I. 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.
The Pittsburgh Police assisted in responding to the crash, and the F.B.I. was leading the investigation into the incident, said Eliza Durham, a spokeswoman for the city of Pittsburgh’s Public Safety Department.
F.B.I. field offices have been targeted a few times in recent years. In April 2024, a man rammed his SUV into the security gate at the field office in Atlanta, and was fined around $25,000 for destruction of property. In 2022, officers shot and killed a man after he tried to break into the F.B.I.’s Cincinnati office.