The person arrested in connection to a taking pictures on the Democratic Nationwide Committee’s (DNC) area workplace in Tempe, Ariz. could have been planning a mass casualty occasion, Maricopa County prosecutor Neha Bhatia mentioned in courtroom on Wednesday, in line with The Related Press.
Bhatia mentioned federal brokers reported discovering greater than 120 weapons and greater than 250,000 rounds of ammunition on the dwelling of the 60-year-old suspect, Jeffrey Michael Kelly, after his arrest. She mentioned brokers discovered scopes, physique armor and silencers at his dwelling, and a machine gun was found within the automotive he was driving.
At Kelly’s first courtroom look on Wednesday, Bhatia mentioned the huge quantity of ammunition and tools found led authorities to consider “this person was preparing to commit an act of mass casualty.”
Kelly was accused of taking pictures three separate instances on the DNC Tempe workplace — which shares its workplace area with Vice President Harris’s marketing campaign — on Sept. 16, Sept. 23 and Oct. 6.
The shootings happened within the early morning hours, and police mentioned nobody was inside on the time. After the most recent taking pictures, Arizona Democrats introduced they might shut the sphere workplace.
Kelly was charged with three felony counts of acts of terrorism and 4 different counts associated to the shootings. A money bond was set at $500,000, and Kelly can be required to stay on home arrest with an ankle monitor, if he could make bail.
Kelly’s lawyer, Jason Squires, mentioned his consumer has no felony document, was not a flight danger and, at one level, had prime safety clearance as a retired aerospace engineer, the AP reported.
Kelly was additionally accused of “hanging” suspicious luggage of white powder on some political indicators that had been lined with razor blades in Ahwatukee, Ariz, the police mentioned.
Nationwide issues about political violence have been on the rise within the 2024 election cycle. President Trump was focused in two obvious assassination makes an attempt in latest months, together with one through which a bullet grazed and bloodied his ear, prompting secret service to usher him off stage mid-sentence at a rally.
The Related Press contributed reporting.
