Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was also arrested on suspicion of leaving white powder on political signs in Ahwatukee, according to Tempe police.
  • chingadera@lemmy.world
    33·
    7 months ago

    Damn, they charged him with a terrorism charge. About fucking time we started rolling these out.

    Two counts of unlawful discharge, Two counts of shooting at a nonresidential structure. Three counts of committing a terrorism act. Three counts of criminal damage.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16·
      7 months ago

      Before you feel to satisfied with the cops and prosecutor:

      They could have arrested him 2 years ago when he was cutting up and stealing signs…

      But the cops literally said they were too scared, and the prosecutor agreed that was a valid reason not to charge him

      Despite evidence pointing to Kelly as the perpetrator, Weich said law enforcement did not move to arrest him. Weich said that Phoenix police feared that approaching Kelly would pose a threat to their safety. A prosecutor out of the Phoenix City Attorney’s Office declined to pursue charges, Weich said.

      So they let him run around for two years until he shot up a Dem campaign office three times and was driving around with machine guns…

      Kelly was arrested about 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday during a traffic stop. Kelly’s attorney Squires said his vehicle was stopped using a grappler that hooked the car from behind. “That is quite shocking to a person who’s never had any previous allegations at all,” Squires said in court.

      Squires said in court the car was then surrounded by more than a dozen law enforcement personnel.

      The prosecutor said Kelly had numerous guns in his car, including a machine gun. He did not have his cellphone. Similarly, no cellphone was tracked behind during the shootings at the Democratic office, the prosecutor said. That led authorities to believe he was on his way to “potentially do something,” the prosecutor said.

      • TooManyFoods@lemmy.world
        3·
        7 months ago

        I understand about being scared of a guy totally loaded on guns, but if the government doesn’t still do their job in spite of it, they are unable to govern in this case and have ceded their authority as a government.

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5·
          7 months ago

          You misunderstood…

          When they were too scared for their own safety it was in 2022 when he was stealing signs from people’s yards or cutting them up with a pocket knife.

          The candidate had to hire a private investigator because cops wouldn’t investigate, and in the report it mentioned he showed signs of far right Christian extremism (his target was a Jewish Dem).

          Cops said they were too scared to do anything, and the prosecutor refused to press charges.

          Because cops were two afraid of a pocket knife, he kept going to the point of shooting up campaign offices and carrying a machine gun along with other weapons.

          The cops allowed the situation to become more dangerous because they were afraid to step in.

          • TooManyFoods@lemmy.world
            4·
            7 months ago

            No, I understood. The cops were scared for themselves. I understand that, but they need to do things anyway or they are not doing their jobs as the cops. It weakens the mandate of the government. These guys didn’t do their jobs so the only good justification for the police having any power falls apart.