Dec. 17 (UPI) — A Tennessee man facing charges in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has also plotted to kill the law enforcement officials assigned to his case, prosecutors say.
Edward Kelley, 33, of Maryville, Tenn., allegedly obtained a copy of a list of law enforcement personnel who played a role in his criminal investigation and discussed plans to kill them, the Justice Department announced Friday.
According to a newly unsealed criminal complaint, authorities also accuse Kelley and another man, Austin Carter, 26, of Knoxville, Tenn., of planning to stage an attack on the FBI’s Knoxville Field Office.
Both men face new counts of conspiracy, retaliating against a federal official, interstate communication of a threat and solicitation to commit a crime of violence.
Kelley was charged in May with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, civil disorder and destruction of government property for his participation in the Jan. 6 riot, in which he is accused of wearing a gas mask and green tactical helmet while fighting with a Capitol police office officer and rampaging through the building.
He and Carter made their initial appearance in federal court Friday in Knoxville before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill McCook, who ordered them both detained. Carter has a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
