Yes, he was.
He also had a lawful weapons confiscation order, as the husband purchased a shotgun, and was subsequently denied during a late background check.
One of those nasty "gotcha's" where the Feds cannot complete a background check within 3 days and must allow the original sale of a firearm. They can still keep checking and if they find something later, they can go back to confiscate the purchased firearm. That was the setup.
All perfectly legal so far.
The housewife panicked and called the local police, saying that an unknown person claiming to be a federal officer was at her door demanding weapons and she was frightened.
Criminals have impersonated law enforcement staff before. It was not (IMO) an unreasonable fear by the housewife. Her husband was not home at the time.
ATF guy was armed and mouthed off to the local police officer who arrived on-scene. That was how things went sour in a hurry. Refusing to obey police instructions sealed the deal.
ATF guy should have known better. You always need to cooperate with local officers, or at least avoid antagonizing them. He could dish it out but could not take it. He is still with the ATF (of course). Not a good temper for a law enforcement officer. He should be in another line of work.
Along with almost everybody else in ATF. Once again, in my opinion. YMMV.
Some wags would suggest that the whole BATFE is impersonating a law enforcement agency.
He thought he was superior to them. Protocol should probably include arriving WITH local police to avoid this. Although “government competence” isn’t exactly common.
He should realize the cops don’t know who he is and he could be anyone, refusing to comply with their lawful orders resulted in exactly what he deserved.