An Arizona man who allegedly shot at a Democratic field office in the Phoenix area may have been planning something bigger, authorities say. Federal agents removed more than 120 firearms from Jeffrey Michael Kelly's home after he was arrested Tuesday, the Arizona Republic reports. A prosecutor from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said Wednesday that the cache of weapons, including machine guns, suggested the 60-year-old was "preparing to commit an act of mass casualty." Kelly is accused of shooting at the campaign office late at night on Sept. 16, Sept. 23, and Oct 6. Nobody was injured, but the Tempe office was shut down after the third shooting, the Guardian reports.
Police said that before his arrest, Kelly was seen "hanging suspicious bags of white powder from several political signs lined with razor blades." The bags on the anti-Democrat signs he posted near his home were marked "biohazard," but prosecutors said initial testing found that the substance was baking powder, reports the Republic. Kelly is facing three felony counts of acts of terrorism and several other charges related to the Tempe shootings, the AP reports. Charges related to the bags of powder are pending, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said Wednesday that Kelly, a retired aerospace engineer, was showing a pattern of escalating behavior. They said that when he was arrested in a traffic stop Tuesday, had multiple firearms in his vehicle, and had left his cellphone behind, leading authorities to believe he was on his way to "potentially do something," the Republic reports.
- In a separate incident in Phoenix, police say 20 ballots were damaged when somebody set a fire in a mailbox Thursday, USA Today reports. Dieter Klofkorn, 35, was arrested hours later. Police say he told investigators that he "wanted to be arrested and that his actions were not politically motivated and not related to anything involving the upcoming election."
(More
Arizona stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
