‘Sign of the Times’ Black Trump Supporter Murdered in Milwaukee Days After Photo That Caused a ‘Stir’

Bernell Trammell was shot and killed Thursday afternoon in Milwaukee in front of his storefront with signs in the window supporting President Trump’s re-election.

The same day that Trammell was murdered, a video was recorded where he encouraged people to vote for the president and that Trump is a “sign of the times.”

A few days before, a photo on Facebook with Trammell carrying a Trump sign throughout the community and alongside him walked another man with an opposing sign carrying the word “sike,” had caused a “stir” on the internet.

Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, Andrew Hitt, called for a federal investigation yesterday and issued a statement.

“It is tragic to learn of the senseless murder of Bernell Trammell, and I offer my sincere condolences to his family and friends. 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. No American should fear for their personal safety because of where they live or their political affiliation.”

Police say that so far, there’s not a lot of information about what led up to the shooting and who pulled the trigger.

From the NY Post:

Trammell was a familiar figure in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood, frequently pedaling a bicycle or walking the streets with signs proclaiming his eclectic religious or political thoughts.

“He had a lot of different views,” local writer Adebisi Agoro told The Post. “But it was his last view that made people be outrageous with him.”

The pro-Trump signage was stirring up angry posts on neighborhood Facebook pages, Agoro said.

Trammell “didn’t have internet, he didn’t have a phone, he didn’t have a dime to his name,” Agoro said. “But he got his message out.”

A new GOP outreach office – opened this year to try to make inroads into the African-American electorate – is just blocks from the building where Trammell lived and was killed, Hitt said.

“This is personal,” he told The Post.

Hitt, a former Milwaukee prosecutor, turned to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Friday, in the face of silence from the city’s police department.

“I know how these investigations work,” he said. “The lack of information is concerning. We don’t know any of the circumstances of how he was murdered.”