A criminal complaint was unsealed Friday, charging Edward Kelley, 33, of Maryville, Tennessee, and Austin Carter, 26, of Knoxville, Tennessee, with conspiracy, according to officials.
They allegedly retaliated against a federal official, interstate communication of a threat, and solicitation to commit a crime of violence against law enforcement.
Both defendants were detained.
Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
According to court documents, Kelley, who is facing charges in U.S. District Court related to his assault on a law enforcement officer during the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, obtained a list of law enforcement personnel who participated in that criminal investigation.
In conversations with a cooperating witness, Kelley and Carter discussed collecting information and plans to kill the individual law enforcement personnel on the list, including an attack on the FBI’s Knoxville, Tennessee Field Office.
The FBI is investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey Arrowood and Kyle Wilson for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and Trial Attorneys David Smith and Jacob Warren of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case.