A Tennessee man who faces charges stemming from the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was arrested by federal law enforcement Friday, accused of planning to kill the officers involved in his investigation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
According to a release from the DOJ, 33-year-old Edward Kelley was detained in Knoxville, along with 26-year-old Austin Carter, in relation to several charges including conspiracy and retaliating against a federal official.
Kelley was also arrested in May by federal law enforcement, accused of assaulting a Capitol Police officer and damaging the Capitol while supporters of former President Donald Trump breached the building on January 6, 2021. After facing charges, the DOJ said, Kelley “obtained a list of law enforcement personnel” involved in the investigation.
“In conversations with a cooperating witness, Kelley and Carter discussed collecting information and plans to kill the individual law enforcement personnel on the list that included an attack on the FBI‘s Knoxville, Tennessee Field Office,” read Friday’s release.
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The DOJ said Carter has a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday, while it is unclear if Kelley will receive one.
In the complaint filed by the DOJ in the spring, Kelley was accused of assault, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder and destruction of government property, among other offenses, in the January 6 attack. Law enforcement officials said the native of Maryville, Tennessee, spent approximately 40 minutes in the Capitol after using “a piece of wood to breach the window adjacent to the Senate Wing Door,” according to a release from May.
Federal law enforcement agencies have been under watch for increased threats of violence since August. At the time, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned that threats could follow after officers raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, recovering thousands of White House documents.
Shortly after the FBI raid, an armed Ohio man attempted to breach the bureau’s branch in Cincinnati. Officers said the 42-year-old, who was later fatally shot in a standoff with law enforcement, was also believed to have been involved in the January 6 riot, reported NPR.
On the same day the FBI and DHS issued the warning, a 46-year-old Pennsylvania man was accused of threatening to “slaughter” federal officers in a post on the right-wing social network Gab.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement posted to the department’s Twitter account Friday that the charges facing Kelley and Carter were “sickening.”
“FBI employees honorably perform their duties protecting the American public and upholding the Constitution, and they should be able to execute these duties without threats of violence,” Wray wrote.
Newsweek has reached out to the FBI for comment.
