Threats of violence reached a fever pitch — reminiscent of the days leading up to the Capitol attack — following the news that the FBI raided Trump's Florida beach club to retrieve classified documents the former president may have unlawfully taken there.

After Trump himself confirmed Monday's raid at Mar-a-Lago, pro-Trump pundits and politicians rallied around declarations of "war," and Trump's ever-fervent supporters called for everything from dismantling the federal law enforcement agency to committing acts of violence against its agents. The situation escalated from there in record time, with online rhetoric boiling over quickly into real-world violence.

By Thursday, an armed man identified as Ricky Shiffer attempted to force his way into an FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio, brandishing a rifle before fleeing. Law enforcement pursued Shiffer and he was fatally shot during the ensuing standoff with police.

Analysts with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a nonprofit that researches extremism and disinformation, found evidence that Shiffer was driven to commit violence by "conspiratorial beliefs related to former President Trump and the 2020 election...interest in killing federal law enforcement, and the recent search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago earlier this week." He was also reportedly present at the January 6 attack — another echo between this week's escalating online threats and the tensions that culminated in political violence at the Capitol that day.

Shiffer appears to have been active on both Twitter and Truth Social, the platform from Trump's media company that hosts the former president and his supporters. As Thursday's attack unfolded, Shiffer appeared to post to Truth Social about how his plan to infiltrate the FBI office by breaking through a ballistic glass barrier with a nail gun had gone awry. "Well, I thought I had a way through bullet proof glass, and I didn’t," the account posted Thursday morning. "If you don’t hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I., and it’ll mean either I was taken off the internet, the F.B.I. got me, or they sent the regular cops..."