Suspect in custody after driver crashed 'at high speed' into FBI office gate 'in act of terror'

A suspect has been taken into custody after a driver crashed a car into the gates of an FBI office in what the bureau called "an act of terror".

An official initially said a man driving "at a high rate of speed" crashed his vehicle into the entrance of the building in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at around 2.30am local time on Wednesday (7.30am UK time). He then retrieved an American flag from the backseat, which he placed on the gates before taking off on foot, FBI Pittsburgh's assistant special agent in charge Christopher Giordano said.

Later, an FBI spokesperson said a man had been taken into custody at around 10am (3pm UK time). A bomb squad was called to the scene after the incident but no explosives were found.

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

"Thankfully no one was hurt, but we are going to exhaust every ability we have under the federal law to find, apprehend and prosecute this subject to the fullest extent." The car appeared to have a message on one of the side windows, but Mr Giordano did not elaborate on what this said. The vehicle has now been removed from the scene.

Read more:Arrests made over Trump-Epstein Windsor stuntCharlie Kirk suspect appears in court Speaking before the suspect was taken into custody, Mr Giordano said a man wanted in connection with the incident visited the Pittsburgh 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 in with," he said.

"It didn't have a federal nexus. "We contacted him to let him know there wasn't a federal crime that we were able to charge." The man was a former member of the military, Mr Giordano said.

The FBI's headquarters are in Washington DC and the Pittsburgh premises is one of its 55 field offices..