"Act of terror" at FBI Pittsburgh field office prompts search for suspect after car rams into entran

[mountaineer]

"Act of terror" at FBI Pittsburgh field office prompts search for suspect after car rams into entrance gate
 By Mike Darnay, Jessica Riley
Updated on: September 17, 2025 / 7:22 AM EDT / CBS Pittsburgh KDKA

A search is underway for a man accused of committing an "act of terror" by allegedly using his car to ram the entrance gate to the FBI's Pittsburgh Field office.

The FBI says they're searching for Donald Henson, of Penn Hills, who they say used his car to ram the gate to the building around 2:40 a.m. on Wednesday.

FBI Pittsburgh Assistant Special Agent In Charge Christopher Giordano said early Wednesday that after crashing into the gate, Henson grabbed an American flag from inside the vehicle and threw it over the gate.

"We look at this as an act of terror against the FBI," Giordano said. "This was a targeted attack on this building."  ...

The car the FBI says Henson used appeared to have some sort of message written on one of its side windows, which Giordano said investigators are still looking into and brought in a bomb squad to clear the vehicle. ...

[mountaineer]

‘This was a targeted attack:’ Suspect who rammed car into Pittsburgh FBI building gate in custody
 Updated: 10:31 AM EDT Sep 17, 2025
Lily Coleman
WTAE

PITTSBURGH —  The man who agents say rammed a gate at the FBI offices in Pittsburgh is in custody, officials confirmed to Pittsburgh's Action News 4.

FBI Pittsburgh said Donald Henson, a Penn Hills man, crashed a vehicle into the gate of the FBI building on the city’s South Side early Wednesday morning. ...

[mountaineer]

Could be just a run-of-the-mill nut. Not sure why he draped an American flag on the fence after he rammed it.

... Henson appeared to be incoherent when he left the scene, witnesses said.

Arick said the car had some sort of message on a side window, but that didn’t appear relevant to the incident.

Arick also said Henson had attempted to report an incident at the field office weeks ago, but that it did not amount to anything.

FBI officials said Henson, who they believe is a former member of the military, may have been experiencing a mental health issue. ...

Tribune-Review

[Fishrrman]

mountaineer muses:
"Could be just a run-of-the-mill nut..."

Just how many of these "run-of-the-mill nuts" ARE THERE "out there" these days...?

[mountaineer]

Veteran charged with ramming Pittsburgh FBI gate has troubled past
Paula Reed Ward
Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025 4:44 p.m.
Tribune Review

A man accused of ramming his car into a security gate at the FBI’s Pittsburgh headquarters had a long history of mental illness, according to testimony Wednesday at a detention hearing in federal court.

Donald Henson had previously been involuntarily committed, spent six months in an intensive-inpatient treatment program through the VA and signed himself in for an additional week of treatment just this spring.

Still, when agents interviewed him on Sept. 17, hours after authorities said he crashed his car through the Sidney Street gate of the FBI building on the South Side, he told them he believed he had a monitoring device embedded in his throat, believed a man was living underneath his residence and that an entity was broadcasting thoughts to him through his vehicle. ...

During his interview with FBI agents, Speakes said, Henson told them he had served in the U.S. Air Force and had PTSD.

He had been receiving mental health treatment from the VA for years.

Henson also said he was a recovering alcoholic and that he had used methamphetamine in the past, according to Speakes.

When agents searched Henson’s home, they found that his major appliances, including refrigerator and microwave, were unplugged and his food was rotting, Speakes said. ...