U.S.: Man plotted to kill federal agents
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Newly unsealed court documents show that a Tennessee man arrested for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot also conspired with another person in a failed attempt to kill dozens of federal agents involved in the investigation.
More than 880 people have been charged with crimes related to the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, the Justice Department said. Earlier this year, Edward Kelley, 33, was one of many arrested on charges of illegally entering the U.S. Capitol and assaulting an officer.
According to the FBI, Kelley later discussed plans with 26-year-old Austin Carter to kill law enforcement personnel who had worked on his criminal investigation, and made a list of targets. Court records show that a witness provided the list of 37 names to a local Tennessee police department on Tuesday.
Kelley and Carter discussed collecting information and plans on law enforcement officials on the list, which also included the FBI’s Knoxville field office.
“You guys are taking them out at their office,” said Kelley, who was recorded by the unidentified witness on Wednesday. “What you and Austin need to do is recruit as many as you can, call who you need to, and you’re going to attack their office.”
When the witness asked if the attack was taking place at the Knoxville office, Kelley said yes.
Carter later told the witness that “this is the time, add up or put up” and “to definitely make sure you got everything racked, locked up and loaded.”
Attorneys for Kelley and Carter did not immediately return messages for comment.
Both Kelley and Carter made their appearance in court on Friday in Knoxville before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill E. McCook. They are charged with conspiracy, retaliating against a federal official, interstate communication of a threat and solicitation to commit a crime of violence.
“Federal law enforcement agents put their lives on the line every day to protect the public,” U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III said in a press release Friday. “Planning and threatening violence against them is among the most serious of crimes. It is absolutely unacceptable and will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted.”
The two men are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 3. Meanwhile, Carter’s detention hearing is scheduled for Dec. 21.
MISTRIAL FOR NAVAL RESERVIST
A federal judge in Virginia has declared a mistrial in a firearms-related case against a U.S. Naval reservist who is separately charged with storming the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff declared the mistrial on Friday after a jury in Alexandria, Virginia, failed to reach a unanimous verdict on charges that Hatchet Speed illegally possessed unregistered silencers for guns. The Washington Post reports that Justice Department prosecutors intend to retry the case against Speed.
Speed also faces charges in Washington, D.C., that he joined in on the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. For that case, a bench trial without a jury is scheduled to start on Feb. 6.
Speed was charged in Virginia with owning three unregistered silencers after FBI agents found the devices during a search of a storage unit that Speed had rented in Alexandria.
Speed’s lawyers said he never modified the devices to convert them into functioning silencers. Defense attorney Courtney Dixon told jurors that Speed was a gun enthusiast who was stocking up on scarce items during the coronavirus pandemic.
Before his arrest in June, Speed told an an undercover FBI agent that he stormed the Capitol with members of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group, authorities said. Speed also said he had contemplated using violence to further his antisemitic beliefs and discussed using violence against members of the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, according to prosecutors.
The FBI said Speed was a petty officer first class in the U.S. Naval Reserves and was assigned to the Naval Warfare Space Field Activity at the National Reconnaissance Office, an agency that operates U.S. spy satellites used by the Pentagon and intelligence agencies.
After the Capitol riot, Speed bought at least 12 firearms over the span of a few months and spent more than $50,000 at firearm and firearm-part retailers, a prosecutor said in a court filing.
“This firearm-buying spree is alarming in light of statements that Speed has made in which he has espoused the use of violence to further his anti-government and anti-Semitic ideologies,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexis Loeb wrote.