The FBI said that the man who rammed a security gate at its Pittsburgh field office this week was trying to “make a statement.”
In an arrest affidavit filed Wednesday, the FBI said Donald Henson admitted to ramming the gate, saying, “sic semper tyrannis,” Latin for “thus always to tyrants.” “It is famously associated with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, who is said to have shouted the phrase after shooting the president,” the FBI wrote.
Henson, 46, is charged with damaging government property and assaulting officers. He will remain in custody until a detention hearing set for Tuesday.
After ramming the gate at 2:40 a.m. on Wednesday, the FBI said Henson placed an American flag over the damaged part of the gate and fled on foot. He was apprehended several hours later “and admitted to the FBI that he rammed the Sidney Street Gate to make a statement,” according to the affidavit.
In addition, Henson was “observed on other security video footage from area businesses walking away from the scene,” the FBI wrote.
“This was a targeted attack on this building,” Christopher Giordano, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI in Pittsburgh, told reporters.
Giordano said the FBI was familiar with Henson.
“He did come here to the FBI field office a few weeks ago to make a complaint that didn’t make a whole lot of sense,” Giordano said.
Giordano added that Henson is a former member of the military; his vehicle appeared to have a U.S. Air Force sticker on it. Giordano said the car also appeared to have a message on a side window, but he didn’t elaborate.
According to the affidavit, the security officer saw the vehicle come down the street and ram the gate, but thought the driver was having a medical emergency. The officer intended to leave the booth to investigate, but when the suspect returned to the car for the flag, the officer stayed inside, fearing he might be retrieving a weapon.
Henson, in a bankruptcy filing last year, said he had $380,000 in student loan debt, few assets, a shuttered business called Insomnia Solutions, and $281 a month in income.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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