美国国家公共电台 NPR--An armed man was killed after trying to breach an Ohio FBI office

An armed man was killed after trying to breach¹ an Ohio FBI office

Transcript²

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.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Attorney General Merrick Garland condemned³ the violent threats directed at the Department of Justice and the FBI. And now we're learning more about an attack on an FBI office in Cincinnati that started yesterday morning. Authorities say an armed man tried to breach the FBI building there, before fleeing. And after a standoff, police shot and killed him. A lot of details in this case are still murky⁴. NPR's Tom Dreisbach is here to help clear things up. Tom, what do we know about what happened?

TOM DREISBACH, BYLINE⁵: Well, NPR has confirmed with sources that the suspect's name in this case is Ricky Shiffer. Public records indicate he's 42 years old. The FBI said he was armed when he tried to enter an FBI building through a visitor screening center. An alarm went off. FBI special agents then responded, and Shiffer fled. The Ohio State Highway Patrol said he was driving a Ford⁶ Crown Victoria. There was a chase. Eventually, they came to a stop by the side of the road in a rural area. The gunman then shot at the police and took cover behind the car. And for about the next six hours, there was a standoff and unsuccessful attempts at negotiation⁷. Then in the afternoon, the police claimed that he raised a gun, and then police shot and killed him.

MART?NEZ: Any word on his motive⁸?

DREISBACH: Well, it's still very early. There are some possible indications. Social media accounts under his name - though, I should say, we have not independently confirmed that they belong to this suspect. But they are under his name, and they indicate that he was with the pro-Trump⁹ protesters outside the Capitol during the attack on January 6, 2021. He has not been charged, though, in connection with the Capitol riot. This week, since the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, though, this account under his name on the Trump-backed social media site Truth Social posted many times, and not long after Shiffer was identified in this incident, those posts were removed. We were able to gather screenshots before then.

MART?NEZ: All right, so social media accounts under his name. What else did they say?

DREISBACH: Well, that Truth Social account I mentioned said specifically that he wanted to cause violence in response to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. It said, quote, "I am proposing war," and, quote, "kill the FBI on sight." He also compared the FBI to the Gestapo, the Nazi¹⁰ secret police. He referenced other motivations, including the Alex Jones defamation¹¹ case, the fact that former White House adviser¹² Steve Bannon might go to jail for contempt of Congress. He said that 1776 - the American Revolution, of course - was for far less. Now, shortly after the attack on the FBI office, this account posted, quote, "I thought I had a way through bulletproof glass, and I didn't. If you don't hear from me, it's true. I tried attacking the FBI."

MART?NEZ: You know, we've seen some violent and extremist rhetoric¹³ since the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago. Where does this fit in?

DREISBACH: Well, all week, I've been talking with extremism researchers about what they're seeing, and it's been a lot of similar talk - talk of arming up, another civil war. And researchers told me that the level of violent rhetoric is similar to what we saw just before January 6. Here's Heidi Beirich. She's the co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.

HEIDI BEIRICH: There's almost a hysteria of violence coming out of these far-right circles in reaction to the search at Mar-a-Lago.

DREISBACH: And given those parallels with the runup to January 6, what we know is a lot of people who went on to storm the Capitol talked about their plans in plain sight, and law enforcement, government agencies just did not take the threat seriously enough. So experts like Beirich are sounding the alarm now.

MART?NEZ: And where are you seeing these kinds of comments?

DREISBACH: Well, some of it is happening on extremist forums¹⁴. But I should say that it is not just the fringe making this kind of extreme rhetoric. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon went on Alex Jones' show this week, the conspiracy¹⁵ theorist Alex Jones, and he compared the FBI to the Gestapo himself. He said, without any apparent basis, that the government might actually be trying to kill Trump.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

STEVE BANNON: I do not think it's beyond this administrative¹⁶ state and their deep state apparatus¹⁷ to actually try to work on the assassination¹⁸ of President Trump.

DREISBACH: Now, he specifically told his followers¹⁹ not to be violent. But before yesterday's attack, I talked to Alex Friedfeld with the Anti-Defamation League, and he said Bannon was playing a dangerous game.

ALEX FRIEDFELD: When you tell a story like that of the other side being willing to go to any lengths to harm the country, they're essentially²⁰ laying the dots out there for their listeners to connect, and when you connect those dots, it becomes far more plausible²¹ to use violence.

DREISBACH: Bannon told NPR in a statement, quote, "his show's mantra is investigate, litigate, incarcerate²². There is no place for violence, as we have the votes and the political muscle to win elections."

MART?NEZ: NPR's Tom Dreisbach. Thanks, Tom.

DREISBACH: Thank you.

1 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

4 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

7 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

8 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

9 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

10 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

11 defamation   

n.诽谤；中伤

参考例句：

• Character defamation can be either oral or written.人格诽谤既可以是口头的也可以是书面的。
• The company sued for defamation.这个公司因受到诽谤而提起诉讼。

12 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

13 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

14 forums   

讨论会； 座谈会； 广播专题讲话节目； 集会的公共场所( forum的名词复数 )； 论坛，讨论会，专题讨论节目； 法庭

参考例句：

• A few of the forums were being closely monitored by the administrators. 有些论坛被管理员严密监控。
• It can cast a dark cloud over these forums. 它将是的论坛上空布满乌云。

15 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

16 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

17 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

18 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

19 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

20 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

21 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

22 incarcerate   

v.监禁，禁闭

参考例句：

• Why do you incarcerate yourself in the room every afternoon?你为何每天下午将自己关在房间里？
• Many people think that it is wrong to incarcerate criminals in confined quarters for as long as thirty years.很多人认为把罪犯监禁在禁闭营里达30年之久是不对的。