Man rams car into FBI’s Pittsburgh office in ‘act of terror’

In an incident that the FBI has described as an “act of terror”, a man on Wednesday rammed a car into the agency’s office at Pittsburgh.

In a statement, the FBI said that a person rammed a white sedan at approximately 2:40 am into one of the vehicle entrance gates at the agency’s Pittsburgh office. The agency said that no one was injured in the incident.

The person, identified as Donald Henson of Penn Hills of Pennsylvania, exited the vehicle, removed an American flag from the backseat, threw it onto the
damaged gate, and left the scene on foot, the FBI said.

The public is asked to please call 911, call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or make a report online at https://t.co/AoP0WgKFiX. pic.twitter.com/OnO7gyhlel

— FBI Pittsburgh (@FBIPittsburgh) September 17, 2025

The New York Post reported that the car involved in the incident was a white Toyota. The newspaper further reported that the car had profane messages written on it. The report did not say what was written.

Separately, FBI Pittsburgh Assistant Special Agent In Charge Christopher Giordano said the incident was being looked at as “an act of terror”.

“We look at this as an act of terror against the FBI. This was a targeted attack on this building,” said Giordano, as per CBS News.

The FBI asked the public to call 911 or contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or make a report online at tips.fbi.gov upon sighting the suspect in the case.

Giordano said that the man committed a federal offence and the FBI will seek “prosecution to the fullest extent”.

Giordano said that the suspect was known to the FBI as he had visited the office earlier to make a complaint. He said the FBI did not act on the complaint as it did not constitute a federal offence.

“In scouring our indexes, we did find that he visited the field office a couple of weeks ago to make a complaint that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. We ran down everything that he came down with. It didn’t have a federal nexus. We contacted him to let him know there wasn’t a federal offense that we were able to charge,” said Giordano.

The incident has come at a time when the United States is rattled with political violence and extremist rhetoric in the wake of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk’s killing.