Officials on Tuesday identified a driver accused of ramming an SUV into a pop-up barrier just inside the gate at an FBI field office in Chamblee, authorities said.
An orange Buick Encore with South Carolina plates crashed into the security barrier at the FBI’s state headquarters on Flowers Road just after midday on Monday, a spokesperson confirmed. The man, identified as Ervin “Lee” Bolling by the FBI, was arrested at the scene by DeKalb County police.
No one was injured during the incident, but Bolling was taken to the hospital for evaluation, FBI Atlanta assistant special agent Pete Ellis told reporters.
“Several of our special agents who were passing by apprehended him,” Ellis said about the driver. “His motives at this point are unknown.”
Investigators followed the FBI’s standard operating procedures and checked the car for explosives as a precaution, Ellis said. The SUV was towed away and the scene was cleared by 4 p.m.
Ellis said Bolling appeared to try to follow an FBI employee through the gate. Video from NewsChopper 2 showed the Buick immobilized after it ran into a pop-up wedge barrier just inside the sliding metal gate. The impact was enough to set off the airbag and crush the front end of the vehicle, but the barrier prevented the SUV from intruding more than a few feet into the compound.
Helicopter footage of the aftermath showed an investigator wearing a protective bomb suit looking through the wrecked SUV, with armored vehicles parked in front of and behind it.
No additional information has been released. A DeKalb police spokeswoman said the FBI is leading the investigation and that she could not share further details.
The dramatic attempt at entering the secure federal offices echoes a similar attempt at the White House earlier this year. In January, a driver was arrested after crashing their car into a gate. Federal officials have not provided further updates about their investigation into that incident.
Such ramming incidents are relatively rare in Atlanta. Nearly a decade ago, a car drove into the heavily secured CNN Center. The incident took place in the early morning hours of June 13, 2014. A 22-year-old man, who was charged with driving while under the influence of marijuana, was able to plow his car through a plate-glass window after avoiding a myriad of anti-vehicle barricades, such as large stone planters and metal bollards.
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