Two Tennessee men have been charged with plotting to kill federal investigators looking into one of the pair’s involvement in the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on Congress, the Washington Post reports.
Thirty-three-year-old of Edward Kelly of Marysville reportedly assaulted one of the police officers defending the Capitol in January 2021, for which he was indicted in May. He amassed a list of 37 different law enforcement officers involved in his case as a “hit list” of people he would target. Kelly then recruited two people from his job with his plan: Austin Carter, 26, of Knoxville and another individual who contacted the FBI to become an informant.
Kelly then met with the pair at a local park to discuss “assassination missions” to eliminate the people on the list, particularly one individual who had executed a search warrant on Kelly’s home and of whom Kelly had security camera footage. Later, Kelly gave them the lists of intended targets and told the pair to memorize the names and burn the list.
Kelly told the pair to quickly recruit others so they could attack the FBI office in Knoxville. “You guys are taking them out at their office,” Kelley said on one recording made by the cooperating witness. “You don’t have time to train or coordinate, but every hit has to hurt. Definitely make sure you got everything racked, locked up and loaded.