Arizona DNC office shooting suspect may have been planning mass casualty event: Prosecutor

The man arrested in connection to a shooting at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) field office in Tempe, Ariz., may have been planning a mass casualty event, Maricopa County prosecutor Neha Bhatia said in court Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.

Bhatia said federal agents reported finding more than 120 guns and more than 250,000 rounds of ammunition at the home of the 60-year-old suspect, Jeffrey Michael Kelly, after his arrest. She said agents found scopes, body armor and silencers there, and a machine gun was discovered in the car he was driving.

At Kelly’s first court appearance Wednesday, Bhatia said the vast amount of ammunition and equipment discovered led authorities to believe “this person was preparing to commit an act of mass casualty.”

Kelly was accused of shooting at the DNC Tempe office, which shares its office space with Vice President Harris’s campaign, three separate times: Sept. 16, Sept. 23 and Oct. 6.

The shootings took place in the early morning hours, and police said no one was inside at the time. After the latest shooting, Arizona Democrats announced they would close the field office.

Kelly was charged with three felony counts of acts of terrorism and four other counts related to the shootings. A cash bond was set at $500,000, and if he makes bail, he will be required to remain on house arrest with an ankle monitor.

Kelly’s attorney, Jason Squires, said his client has no criminal record, was not a flight risk and, at one point, had top security clearance as a retired aerospace engineer, the AP reported.

Kelly was also accused of “hanging” suspicious bags of white powder on some political signs that were lined with razor blades in Ahwatukee, Ariz, the police said.

National concerns about political violence have been on the rise in the 2024 election cycle. Former President Trump was targeted in two apparent assassination attempts in recent months, including one in which a bullet grazed and bloodied his ear, prompting Secret Service to usher him off stage midsentence at the rally.

The Associated Press contributed.