FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A Taycheedah man is charged, accused of threatening to go down in a “blaze of glory” over firearms legislations by shooting legislators and family stating, “people will hunt you and your family down like an animal.”James R. Sterns was taken into custody on May 27 and is now charged with one count of terrorist threat- interruption of government operations, a Class I felony.
Sterns made his initial court appearance in Fond du Lac County court Thursday where a $4,000 cash bond was set with various conditions, including no contact with Victim 1, no use of the internet and no use or possession of dangerous weapons or ammunition.
According to the criminal complaint, Sterns sent two emails at the end of May, threatening to shoot Wisconsin legislators if they passed a bill allowing teachers to be armed with firearms. Sterns is alleged to have sent one email threatening a specific Wisconsin legislator and their family.
One of the emails is alleged to have been sent to a radio host stating:
Should the lawmakers of the State of Wisconsin ever vote to arm the public school teachers and/or administrators in Wisconsin, the following will happen! James R. Stearns at N8218 Ashberry Avenue in FDL, WI. Will purchase a gun, the most powerful I can purchase, and go to Madison and shoot as many of the people who vote for this law as I can before someone shoots me. Arming the teachers and administrators would be the worst possible thing our country/state would ever see, and I am more than willing to go down in a blaze of glory. Check me out to see that presently, and the first 72 years of my life, I have never broken a law, or been involved in the legal system in virtually any way. Outside of a few traffic tickets, my record is as clean as anyone walking the street of Wisconsin. Do Not consider this a THREAT, but rather a PROMISE !!!
Sterns is also alleged to have sent a second email to a specific Wisconsin legislator in late May of 2022, threatening the legislator and their family, saying that people would “hunt you down and your family like animals”:
[VICTIM 1] do you not value the lives of your family, yourself and your fellow legislators. If you pass legislation to arm teachers administrators and other staff people in the Wisconsin public schools, you’ll be a dead man in 60 days of passing that legislation. Does this make sense to you. People will hunt you down and your family like animals. This would be the worst and the last legislation you get passed in Wisconsin VICTIM 1. Do you understand what I am saying. Please pass some legislation that makes guns harder to get for the deranged criminals felons mentally deranged and unstable individuals of Wisconsin. We need no more AR15’s in Wisconsin since they are assault weapons not weapons of protection or hunting weapons. It is one thing to have hand guns and rifles for hunting but assault weapons. You do what you need to but if you do not listen to the citizens of Wisconsin your life will certainly be lost to those Wisconsin citizens. People will hunt you and your family down like an animal. VICTIM 1 do the right thing for Wisconsin citizens. Giving teachers guns is a very bad idea.
Sterns returns to court July 29.
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