Authorities have identified the suspect accused of ramming a vehicle through an entrance gate at the FBI’s Atlanta field office on Monday afternoon.
Ervin Lee Bolling was arrested and charged with interference with government property, Dekalb County Police spokesperson Officer Elise Wells said.
He was also charged in federal court Tuesday with destruction of government property, according to a criminal complaint.
The suspect is a Navy veteran from South Carolina, according to two law enforcement sources. He was arrested after trying to enter the facility.
Bolling crashed into a “final denial barrier” – a piece of steel that goes flat as each authorized car enters the secured area and then lifts back up again – at the gate where employees enter, according to an affidavit in support of the complaint.
Bolling then tried to follow an FBI special agent on foot into the parking lot, the affidavit states. The special agent and two others, who had been trying to leave, ordered Bolling to stay seated on a curb, but he stood up and tried to walk farther onto the property.
The court document says Bolling resisted when the agents tried to detain him and he was eventually taken into custody. He was identified through a passport he was carrying.
The motive of Monday’s incident remains unclear. The suspect in Monday’s incident did not say anything while being taken into custody, a law enforcement official told CNN.
Bolling was transported from the FBI building to the hospital for “medical care and evaluation,” according to the court documents. Bomb technicians cleared the vehicle, a federal law enforcement official said.
The suspect remains in the hospital, Wells told CNN on Tuesday morning. It was not clear whether Bolling had an attorney; none is listed in his federal court records.
The incident comes about two weeks after the FBI Atlanta field office conducted a tabletop exercise with personnel to test procedures for responding to an unauthorized entry, a law enforcement source who is familiar with the bureau’s security planning told CNN.
The FBI has ramped up security in recent years amid a wave of threats to personnel, and following the 2022 attempted breach of an FBI field office in Cincinnati.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
