Person attempted to scale security fencing, threw rocks at FBI office in Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man attempted to scale the security fencing at the FBI's Chicago field office and began throwing rocks on Thursday.
The man is in custody and the FBI is investigating further. As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported Thursday night, this comes as federal agents around the country have been warned about becoming the potential target of violence.
While no one was injured in the incident Thursday and the man who got over the wall was quickly apprehended, a former FBI agent we spoke with said now more than ever, federal employees need to remain vigilant.
Around 11 a.m., the man breached the 6-foot-high and highly-secured iron fence on the northeast corner of the headquarters at Roosevelt Road and Damen Avenue on the Near West Side.
Sources told CBS 2's Chris Tye the man was unharmed and not a serious threat. He also did not have a clear political ideology.
A spokesperson from the Federal Protective Service said after climbing over the fence, the man began throwing rocks at the FBI field office.
Tye spoke with the guard who apprehended the man. The guard recalled he told the man, "You know you're on FBI property right?" but the man had no actual response. The guard added the man never appeared to be a threat and the facility was never put on lockdown.
No guns or bombs were recovered in the incident, but the breach hit a nerve — as tensions remain high as prosecutions into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol continue.
"I think there's been a lot of rhetoric leveled at against our institutions - including the FBI," said former FBI agent Phil Andrew.
Andrew, an FBI agent for over two decades, says the anti-law-enforcement rhetoric — specially targeting federal law enforcement as of late - is unnerving.
"Even if this is just an emotionally disturbed person that took advantage of an opportunity they saw, it gets read into this as another potential attack," Andrew said, "and I think it has the same effect."
In the days following a search warrant being executed at Mar-a-Lago — the home of former President Donald Trump — a man was killed in a standoff with the FBI after he tried to attack the agency's field office in Cincinnati.
The FBI, along with the Department of Homeland Security, recently issued a joint intelligence bulletin warning of "violent threats" against them -
Including a threat to place a so-called dirty bomb in front of FBI Headquarters, and general calls for "civil war" and "armed rebellion."
"Our enemies are watching this and really looking hard at the divisive conditions that we are having in the United States," Andrew said.
Officials described the incident Thursday as brief, lasting only a few minutes.
"The FBI Chicago facility remains secure, and there are no reported injuries or known threats to the public at this time," FBI spokesperson Siobhan Johnson said in an email.
The motive of the man who jumped the fence Thursday is still unclear. FPS detained him and Chicago Police took him to a local hospital for evaluation, an FPS spokesperson said.
