Edward Kelley appears to break a window at the U.S. Capitol in a gas mask, clear glasses, black and gray gloves, and a green tactical helmet during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021 (U.S. Attorney’s Office).
A Tennessee man facing federal charges for plotting to kill FBI employees investigating him for his role in the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol allegedly was carrying a gun that day, according to new testimony revealed at trial.
The details came out on Tuesday during the bench trial for Edward Kelley before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a Bill Clinton appointee. Kelley’s facing charges of civil disorder, obstruction and assaulting officers in the Capitol breach. He faces separate charges in the plot to murder FBI employees in Tennessee.
According to NBC News justice reporter Ryan J. Reilly, FBI Special Agent Jessi Mann demonstrated in court that the type of waistband gun holster Kelley likely wore that day that would have concealed a gun. Mann also said the weapon’s “printing” — or outline — and the clip on the holster on his pants could be seen in Capitol surveillance photos from that day. The agent also testified that he bought boxes of ammunition and gas masks before the attack, Reilly reported.
As Law&Crime has previously reported, Kelley is accused of storming the building that day to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win.
Wearing a gas mask, green tactical helmet, and backpack secured across his chest, he allegedly smashed a window at the building using a wooden plank and entered and kicked a door open to let other rioters in, court documents said. Investigators also say he and two other men got into an altercation with a Capitol police officer, throwing the law enforcement official to the ground.
Kelley was among the rioters who followed Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a set of stairs, and he spoke to him, authorities said. Goodman has been credited with leading the angry rioters away from the direction of the Senate Chamber.
After Kelley’s May 2022 arrest in the Jan. 6 case and while he was freed pending trial, he allegedly plotted to take out the law enforcement personnel investigating him. He, a codefendant, Austin Carter, and a witness walked through Jarvis Park in Maryville, Tennessee, on Dec. 3, authorities said.
Kelley allegedly said, “with us being such a small group, we will mainly conduct recon missions and assassination missions.”
“I don’t have the list now, but I will get you the list later on,” he said, according to documents.
Kelley requested Carter and the witness to get intel on the people on the list and asked the witness to “reach out to your cop buddies” to dig up information on those people, authorities said.
Carter allegedly gave the witness an envelope containing “the list” and a thumb drive, documents said.
“The envelope contained a printed document titled ‘The list’ with approximately thirty-seven names, positions and some phone numbers of the law enforcement personnel who participated in the criminal investigation of Kelley,” court documents said. “The list specifically identified which law enforcement officers were ‘present at arrest or home search’ of Kelley on May 5, 2022. The list appears to be a computer-generated word document. Additionally, the envelope contained a thumb drive of what appears to be video footage from Kelley’s home security camera from the morning of the search of Kelley’s home on May 5, 2022, which depicts at least one law enforcement officer approaching Kelley’s home.”
The witness stepped forward to investigators with this evidence, authorities said. Carter pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced.
Kelley is set to go to trial in the FBI murder plot case in Tennessee on Nov. 18, online court records show.
Law&Crime’s Alberto Luperon and Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.
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