Driver Crashes Car Into F.B.I. Field Office Gate in Pittsburgh

U.S.|Driver Crashes Car Into F.B.I. Field Office Gate in Pittsburgh

A driver crashed a car into the entrance gate of an F.B.I. field office in Pittsburgh early Wednesday and fled on foot in what officials said they believed was a targeted act.

The F.B.I. was looking for a suspect, who was named as Donald Henson of Penn Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh, said Bradford Arick, the spokesman for the field office. The driver was the sole occupant of the vehicle, a white sedan, and there were no injuries, Mr. Arick said.

The driver rammed the car into the gate of the compound at 2:45 a.m., accelerating right before impact, Mr. Arick said. The driver got out of the vehicle, draped an American flag on the gate and then fled.

The crash damaged the vehicle and the gate, Mr. Arick said. A bomb squad was deployed to the site after the crash and was processing the scene early Wednesday, but no device had been found, he added.

The authorities did not know whether the driver was armed, but they believed he did not pose an immediate threat to the public, Mr. Arick said.

“This was certainly targeted against the F.B.I.,” Mr. Arick said in a phone interview. He added later that “we’re urging the public to avoid him but call if they believe they’ve seen him.”

The Pittsburgh Police assisted in responding to the crash, and the F.B.I. was leading the investigation into the incident, said Eliza Durham, a spokeswoman for the city of Pittsburgh’s Public Safety Department.

This is a developing story.