A West Allis man is facing criminal charges for allegedly threatening to kill Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and his family.
Brady Hammerer, 31, was charged last week with 11 counts of assaulting or threatening a judge, prosecutor or police officer.
Prosecutors say that in a June 28 criminal complaint, Hammerer sent 11 emails to the District Attorney’s Office threatening to kill Chisholm. The emails, loaded with racial slurs and profanity, were sent to the office of US Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas. They were sent from Hammerer’s Gmail account, allegedly at times while Hammerer was at his home, the complaint said.
“Keep (racial expletive) and this father away from me, this guy’s family needs to die, this guy John Chisholm and these cops are (expletive) losers that the whole country knows kill each other (sic),” one email reads sent May 11 at 6:31 am
The email investigation actually began days earlier, when the U.S. Capitol Police began investigating emails sent to Cruz’s office. Capitol Police learned that some of the messages were sent to Chisholm and contacted Milwaukee police.
It appears that Chisholm has been the target of threats for almost two years.
Court documents say the emails dated back to 2022, but were flagged as junk and filtered. When Capitol Police reached out in May 2024, the DA’s office removed that filter. They discovered more than 3,500 emails over seven weeks – or an average of 78 messages per day.
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Last month, investigators searched Hammerer’s home. They found a Glock 19, two shotguns and an unloaded AR-15 rifle, as well as ammunition, a sword, a ballistic vest and security badges.
A family member told investigators that Hammerer has become “delusional and paranoid” in recent years and all he talks about is politics and his anger against the “establishment” and “particularly the Milwaukee County District Attorney,” of according to the complaint.
The relative said she believes Hammerer’s fight with the District Attorney’s Office stems from his 2019 drunk driving case. She described him as “a danger to himself and society.”
Court Commissioner Jeralyn Wendelberger on Wednesday ordered Hammerer to remain in custody at the Milwaukee County Jail and submit to a competency exam. He remained in custody on Friday.
Chisholm, a Democrat, announced in January that he would not seek re-election.
This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Man accused of threatening to kill Milwaukee district attorney
