The Wisconsin Republican party has called for a federal investigation of a fatal shooting, to ascertain whether it was motivated by animosity towards Donald Trump.
Bernell Trammell, a 60-year-old African American man who was a well-known figure in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood, was shot and killed at around 12.30pm on Thursday. Police did not immediately provide any details on possible suspects or motives.
However, the Republican party of Wisconsin said the “senseless” murder may have been politically motivated and called upon federal investigators to become involved.
Trammell, who ran a business called eXpressions Journal in Riverwest, regularly displayed signs on political and religious matters, including support for Trump as well as the Black Lives Matter movement, according to those who knew him.
Trammell was pictured holding a sign calling for a Trump victory in the November election. But community members have said he supported politicians from both sides of the divide, including Lena Taylor, a Democrat who ran for mayor of Milwaukee this year.
“He believed in democracy. He believed in his right to free speech,” local resident John Self told TV station CBS58.
“I don’t think he ever once tried to convert you or change you. He would just tell you what he thought, he would listen to what you had to think, and then he would respect that.”
