Detectives are investigating whether a black Donald Trump supporter was shot and killed in Milwaukee over his politics.
Bernell Trammell, 60, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting on Thursday at 12.30pm in the neighborhood where he was known for his signs that said 'Vote Trump 2020' and recited Bible versus.
He was found dead in front of his business where he sold his eXpressions Journal and had handmade placards backing a range of movements including Black Lives Matter in the window.
A memorial with flowers and candles has now been set up on the sidewalk as police look into what happened.
Detectives are investigating whether a black Donald Trump supporter was shot and killed in Milwaukee over his politics. Bernell Trammell, 60, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting on Thursday at 12.30pm in the neighborhood where he was known for his signs that said 'Vote Trump 2020' and recited Bible versus
The scene of fatal shooting near is pictured Bremen and Wright Streets in Milwaukee
They have not yet landed on a motive, but aren't discounting his links to the GOP.
Adebisi Agoro, who knew Trammell, told Fox 6 he stopped by Trammell's office just two hours before the shooting on Thursday morning to discuss politics.
'He's just a community figure,' Agoro said. 'I respected him just because he had a position… He's got his opinion on why he feels that way; and I'm not going to knock him.'
Roommates Andrew Olmstead and Taylen Pulley left their apartment to play basketball when they saw cops pull up outside.
'We saw the cops pull up: the vans, ambulance, firefighters, and we sat and watched. They gave CPR for about 15-20 minutes.
Janette Island said she would pop in the storefront of his three-story building where he had a publishing company, talking religion from Christianity to Rastafari.
Many community members knew Trammell for his political signs and Rastafari religious views.
He was found dead in front of his business where he sold his eXpressions Journal and had handmade placards backing a range of movements including Black Lives Matter in the window. A memorial with flowers and candles has now been set up on the sidewalk as police look into what happened
'It was very deep conversations, very philosophical,' Island told Fox 6. 'He was a really great guy. He meant no harm.'
Reggie Moore, director of Milwaukee's Office of Violence Prevention, told the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal he recently intervened in a dispute between Trammell and a young man over a Trump sign he was carrying.
But community members told CBS 58 that Trammell was an independent who supported candidates on both sides of the aisle, including President Donald Trump in the presidential race and Senator Lena Taylor, a democrat in the Milwaukee mayoral race.
'He believed in democracy. He believed in his right to free speech,' said John Self who had many conversations with Trammell over the years. '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.
'This is a community that there's a lot of diversity, a lot of different thoughts, a lot of different ideas, and I think that's what he represented about the community: that you could express yourself and you could express your opinions, and that's why he felt comfortable here I'm sure,' Self said.
Police say there is not a lot of information about what led up to the shooting and who pulled the trigger on Trammell
Trammell could often be seen on a street corner in Milwaukee. His signs would vary from being political to social justice to religion
'He's a black elder who didn't deserve to die the way that he did,' Moore said.
Republican Party of Wisconsin Andrew Hitt called for federal prosecutors to investigate the 'senseless' killing of Trammell.
'Because of Trammell's well known political activism and the possibility that his murder could be politically motivated, I respectfully request that United States Attorney Matthew Krueger open an investigation into this heinous crime,' Hitt told the Journal Sentinel in a statement issued late Friday.
'No American should fear for their personal safety because of where they live or their political affiliation.'
Patricia Holland saw Tammell on Thursday shortly before his death.
'He was a happy person. He always talked to everybody that came by basically, say hi and speak to them,' Holland said to CBS58.
'I seen the ambulance and stuff - the police flying by my house, and I just said, "Oh my God." What happened to him, I mean - it shouldn't happen to anyone. It's a senseless death.'
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