A man accused of shooting the Democratic office three times prepared for a ‘mass casualty’ act, officials say

TEMPE, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) – Dozens of guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and a grenade launcher have reportedly been recovered from the home of a suspect accused of leaving bags of white powder at multiple locations and recent shootings targeting a Democratic campaign. office.

Authorities overnight identified the suspect as 60-year-old Jeffrey Michael Kelly, who faces several charges in connection with both crimes. During his initial court appearance Wednesday morning, a prosecutor said weapons, including a fully automatic weapon, were found in his vehicle at the time of his arrest.

“The state and law enforcement believe that this individual prepared to commit mass casualty with the weapons he had, and that his violence escalated,” Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Neha Bhatia said during the hearing.

She noted that there was a search warrant pending at his home, where investigators had already recovered about 120 weapons, including AR-style rifles and other fully automatic weapons.

Bhatia also said that 250,000 rounds of ammunition were found, along with silencers, rifle scopes and body armor. In addition, a grenade launcher and dummy grenades were also recovered.

Kelly faces multiple felony charges, including unlawful discharge, shooting at a non-residential building and terrorism. He also faces several misdemeanor and criminal damage charges.

According to police, the investigation into Kelly in Tempe began when he shot three times at the Democratic National Committee field office near Southern Avenue and Priest Drive, with the last shooting occurring on October 6. The other two were on September 16 and September 17. 23.

Police say Kelly fired BB pellets and gunshots into the office from his car. No one was in the building during any of the incidents, and the Democratic Party eventually closed the field office.

Surveillance footage captured a silver Toyota Highlander in two of the shootings, in one case with an expired Colorado license plate and in the other a California license plate.

At a news conference, authorities said Kelly was linked as a possible suspect after community members came forward about a similar case of politically motivated crime in 2022, in which Kelly allegedly stole Democratic signs using the same SUV.

After identifying Kelly as a possible suspect, police served search warrants on his social media and Google accounts. According to court documents, Kelly used Google Maps to search the DNC campaign office address.

Documents say Kelly posted “anti-democratic ideology signs” at several locations near his home in Ahwatukee from Monday evening through Tuesday morning.

The places included Chandler Boulevard near 44th Street and 35th Street, as well as Ray Road and 50th Street.

Phoenix police later said the signs were also lined with razor blades. The signs contained messages referring to the Democratic Party and presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Clear plastic bags containing white powder marked “biohazard” were reportedly attached to the signs, with messages such as: “F*** you!”, “play stupid games and win stupid prizes!” and “guess the poison!”

There were no reports of injuries and officials say the substance was not harmful.

Kelly was taken into custody on Tuesday shortly after 1:30 p.m.

Documents say a silver 2009 Toyota Highlander was found under blankets in the garage. Although it had an Arizona license plate on it, investigators reportedly seized other license plates from the garage, including one from Colorado and another from California.

“He is clearly making threats,” Bhatia said in court. “He wants to scare the population. He is escalating his violence and the state believes he is an absolute threat to the community, to all political figures, especially the Democrats.”

Kelly’s attorney argued that some of the allegations were inflammatory and said his client is a retired aerospace engineer with top secret clearance and no prior criminal record. As for the weapons, his attorney said Kelly was a sportsman.

“We will not tolerate attempts to intimidate anyone involved in the process,” said Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell. “Those who engage in political violence, attempt to interfere in elections, or discourage people from participating in the political process will face serious legal consequences. We will aggressively pursue prosecution to protect our democracy and our democratic process.”

“I appreciate that you may be a sportsman, but it’s not clear to me at this point what a grenade launcher has to do with that,” Judge William Cathon said.

While the state requested a $1 million cash bond, the judge set a $500,000 cash-only bond. If she can post it, Kelly has been ordered to be grounded and wear an ankle monitor.

Later on Wednesday evening, Kelly was back in court, this time charged with making false terrorist reports. After back and forth with attorneys, the judge set an additional $500,000 bond that prosecutors wanted.

Kelly must come up with $1 million in cash if he wants to be released from jail before trial.

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