Convicted Jan. 6 rioter now found guilty of plotting to kill FBI agents

(KNOXVILLE, Tenn.) — A convicted Jan. 6 rioter has now been found guilty of plotting to murder FBI agents who were investigating the Capitol insurrection.

Edward Kelley, 35, was convicted Wednesday in the federal case against him in Knoxville, Tennessee, according to the Department of Justice.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7, and could face a sentence of up to life in prison.

Kelley made a “kill list” of FBI agents who were investigating the Jan. 6 riot, the Department of Justice said in a press release following the conviction.

Prosecutors said he plotted to attack the Knoxville FBI office with “car bombs and incendiary devices appended to drones,” and to assassinate FBI agents “in their homes and in public places such as movie theaters.”

“The safety of our men and women in law enforcement is of paramount concern,” U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III said Wednesday. “There is simply no room in society for those who would engage in this kind of reprehensible conduct and threaten to assassinate FBI agents and others who are honorably serving to uphold the law, and this office will pursue all such threats against civil servants working for the public good.”

Earlier this month, Kelley was convicted on multiple counts, including assaulting law enforcement, at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., said Kelley was identified in photos and videos from the insurrection, and was seen in an “altercation” with a United States Capitol Police officer “where he and two other men throw the officer to the ground.”

Kelley was seen in the footage pushing against a metal barricade guarded by police to access the Capitol building. He then used a piece of wood to smash a window, then entered the building through the window, prosecutors said.

While inside the Capitol, Kelley confronted U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, and was also spotted in the Senate Gallery, according to prosecutors.

He is expected to be sentenced in Washington, D.C., federal court on April 7.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.