The man arrested for shooting at a Democratic National Committee office in suburban Phoenix on three separate occasions had more than 120 guns and more than 250,000 rounds of ammunition in his home, prosecutors said, leading law enforcement to believe he may have been planning a mass shooting.
Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, has been detained on terrorism charges in connection with the shootings at the Democratic party’s campaign office in Tempe, a city just east of Phoenix, on 16 and 23 September. After the third shooting, on 6 October, the Arizona Democratic party was forced to close its office.
The three shootings – once with a BB gun and twice with a firearm – all happened between midnight and 1am local time when the office was empty and did not injure anyone, but prompted concerns about the safety of campaign workers and volunteers.
Maricopa County prosecutor Neha Bhatia said at Kelly’s initial court appearance on Wednesday that federal agents told her about the large seizure made after Kelly’s arrest. Scopes, body armour and silencers were also found, she said. A machine gun was discovered in his car.
Authorities said they believe the man “was preparing to commit an act of mass casualty”.
Police said Kelly, who was being held on three felony counts of acts of terrorism and four other counts related to the shootings, also placed anti-Democratic party signs outside his home, which were equipped with razor blades, and he attached bags containing an unknown white powder labelled “Biohazard”.
During the court hearing, Kelly’s lawyer, Jason Squires, argued that there were discrepancies in the probable cause statement. Squires described Kelly as a sportsman and retired aerospace engineer who was licensed to possess firearms, and emphasised that he had a clean criminal record.
Violence has loomed over the 2024 election for months, including two assassination attempts targeting the former president Donald Trump, at a campaign rally and at one of his Florida golf courses.
Trump’s own rhetoric has supported political violence. He frequently describes US citizens he disagrees with as “the enemy within” and has suggested the military could be used against them. Many prominent Republicans made jokes after an attacker broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home and assaulted her husband. On 6 January 2021 an armed mob of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol to prevent Joe Biden being formally named the winner of the presidential election, assaulting police officers and threatening to hang Mike Pence, the then vice-president.
Maine’s secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, had her home swatted after she disqualified Trump from the presidential ballot late last year. Justices on the Colorado supreme court faced death threats after doing the same (their decision was eventually overturned by the US supreme court) in December.
In Georgia, one key battleground county in suburban Atlanta recently voted to approve spending $50,000 on panic buttons for election workers and an extra $14,000 to hire a security guard.
