Capitol riot defendant planned to assassinate FBI agents investigating him, feds say

A man who was arrested earlier this year in the attack on the U.S. Capitol began planning to assassinate the FBI agents investigating his involvement, according to federal prosecutors.

The Tennessee man’s plan included storming the FBI’s field office in Knoxville and killing some of the agents inside, federal prosecutors said. He developed his plot after being charged in May in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, where he was accused of assaulting a Capitol police officer and breaking into the building.

But Edward Kelley’s plans were thwarted after his “acquaintance” gave the Maryville, Tennessee Police Department an envelope containing his list of 37 federal law enforcement officers named as his targets on Dec. 13, court documents show. Kelley didn’t know this “acquaintance” was cooperating with investigators.

Now Kelley, 33, of Maryville and another man accused of being involved, Austin Carter, 26, of Knoxville, are facing federal charges including conspiracy, retaliating against a federal official, interstate communication of a threat, and solicitation to commit a crime of violence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Joshua Hedrick, an attorney representing Carter, told McClatchy News in a statement on Dec. 19 that his client “has entered a plea of not guilty and we look forward to vigorously defending him against these allegations.”

McClatchy News also contacted Kelley’s attorney for comment and didn’t immediately receive a response.

The plot and kill list of FBI agents

Months after Kelley’s arrest on May 5 in the Capitol breach case, he met with Carter and his acquaintance, the cooperating witness, at Jarvis Park in Maryville to discuss his plans to kill the FBI agents who investigated him, according to an affidavit.

Investigators described the witness as Carter’s co-worker as someone who personally knows Kelley, according to the affidavit.

While walking through the park on Dec. 3, Kelley said “with us being such a small group, we will mainly conduct recon missions and assassination missions” and mentioned a list he planned to give Carter and the witness, according to the affidavit.

Then Kelley asked the pair to “collect intel” on his targets named on his list while specifically asking the witness to reach out to his “cop buddies” to do so, the affidavit states.

On Dec. 13, Carter gave the witness Kelley’s list concealed in an envelope while they were working and said “memorize it and burn everything” inside, according to the affidavit. Investigators didn’t specify where they worked.

The envelope also contained a thumb drive showing Kelley’s home security camera footage from the day of his arrest on May 5 when law enforcement officials searched his home, according to investigators. The footage captured at least one law enforcement officer walking up to Kelley’s house.

The witness didn’t follow Carter’s instructions to burn the envelope and gave it to police instead, the affidavit states. Then they went on to record Kelley and Carter in phone conversations.

On Dec. 14, Kelley spoke with the witness over the phone in a recorded call and gave detailed instructions for attacking the FBI’s Knoxville office in the event officials arrived to extradite him to Washington, D.C. , according to the affidavit.

“You guys are taking them out at their office. What you and Austin [Carter] need to do is recruit as many as you can…,” Kelley stated, according to investigators. He also added that “every hit has to hurt.”

That same day in a separate phone call, Carter told the witness to make sure they have “everything racked, locked up and loaded,” according to the affidavit.

Both Kelley and Carter are due back in court for a detention hearing on Dec. 21, prosecutors said.

Caught on video assaulting a Capitol police officer

Kelley is one of hundreds of people accused of taking part in the Capitol riot. The Jan. 6 attack was led by far-right extremists — many of them armed and screaming threats of violence — determined to disrupt U.S. representatives and senators as they met to certify the presidential election results.

By the time of his arrest, he was one of nearly 800 people arrested in connection with the storming of the Capitol, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

While wearing a gas mask and a green tactical helmet, he and two others were caught on footage assaulting a Capitol police office and throwing them to the ground, according to court documents.

Then Kelley used a piece of wood to break through a window and enter the Capitol building where he stayed for about 40 minutes, prosecutors said.

He faces charges including assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, civil disorder, destruction of government property and more in connection with the event, according to the attorney’s office.

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