DeKalb man threatens to assassinate state Rep. Jeff Keicher, prompting event postponement

SYCAMORE – A DeKalb man was arrested Friday and charged after police allege he threatened to assassinate state Rep. Jeff Keicher at an event planned Thursday at DeKalb High School, according to court records.

The event, a senior health fair, was postponed the day before, however. At the time, multiple Republican legislators who had planned to cohost the event said in a joint statement that the event was postponed due to “unforeseen circumstances outside of our control.”

Keicher, R-Sycamore, told Shaw Local News Network Friday the fair was postponed because a threat upon his life had been made. He said he’s never received a threat as severe as Monday’s. Keicher’s district includes portions of DeKalb, Boone, Kane and McHenry counties.

”There was, during [COVID-19], a lot of frustrations about some government policies but it never rose to the level of an overt threat on life, and I think it’s a reflection of the heat of the political dialogue that’s going on in our country right now, and I’m hopeful that we can use it as a lesson to be able to calm down the rhetoric a little bit, and talk about solving our issues, instead of violence,” Keicher said.

Forrest R. Brandon, 58, of DeKalb, was charged Friday with threatening a public official, DeKalb County court records show. He is being held in police custody at DeKalb County Jail, and is expected to appear for an initial court hearing in front of a judge Saturday, according to the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors intend to file a petition to detain Brandon, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

Keicher said one of his office staffers first heard the voicemail, and then he immediately passed it onto law enforcement, including DeKalb and Sycamore police, Illinois State Police and his fellow host legislators.

Brandon allegedly called Keicher’s legislative office at 9:38 p.m. Monday, identified himself as Forrest Brandon and made threats to harm Keicher at the senior health fair, according to court records.

“I think it’s a reflection of the heat of the political dialogue that’s going on in our country right now, and I’m hopeful that we can use it as a lesson to be able to calm down the rhetoric a little bit, and talk about solving our issues, instead of violence.”

—  State Rep. Jeff Keicher

In the voicemail, Brandon made the threats “because of a partisan event being hosted at a public high school,” Illinois State Police wrote in court filings Friday.

“Yeah, yes, sir, my name is Forrest Brandon. I’m a U.S. Air Force veteran. I wanna know what the [expletive] going on with you hosting a partisan event at a public high school. Screw you Republicans. Hey! Maybe I might assassinate you. I may. Not saying I will. I’m just saying I may,” according to the voicemail, according to court records.

In a police interview Wednesday, Brandon allegedly admitted to making the call and saying that he “may” assassinate Keicher, “but claimed he never intended to carry out the threat,” Illinois State Police wrote in court filings.

“Forrest said he was ‘angry’ and ‘confused’ at the time,” ISP wrote in court records filed Friday. “Mr. Keicher advised he felt apprehensive of receiving bodily harm after receiving the threatening message and was forced to postpone the senior fair.”

Despite the threat, Keicher said Friday he’s feeling safe. He credited efforts of local and state law enforcement, which he called “topnotch.”

”They immediately recognized the concern, addressed it, mitigated us from any immediate danger, offered whatever security protocols we felt might be needed. And so I felt, while uneasy because of the nature and the tone of the threat, I was more at ease after the involvement of DeKalb’s law enforcement agencies and Illinois State Police,” Keicher said.

The threat came two days after former President Donald Trump – now the 2024 Republican Party presidential nominee – survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, The Associated Press reported.

DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan said Friday he was made aware of the threat earlier in the week, but ISP and DeKalb Police did not request any assistance from his office.

In response to the July 13 assassination attempt at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania, officials with the Kane County state’s attorney and sheriff’s office announced plans to provide additional law enforcement patrols for all political events going forward.

Sullivan said his office doesn’t immediately plan to do the same in DeKalb County, mostly because political events are seldom held outside of the jurisdiction of other law enforcement agencies. If asked, his office would provide support, he said.

”Obviously we want all, everyone to be safe, and if we were asked by anyone to provide an extra patrol during an event we would certainly assist. But we would also defer to the local jurisdiction where the event most likely is taking place,” Sullivan said.

DeKalb Police Chief David Byrd said while state police took point in Friday’s arrest of Brandon because Keicher is a state representative, DeKalb officers assisted. Byrd said Brandon was arrested without incident.

The chief said DeKalb police don’t have plans to provide regular security patrols to city officials, but would consider doing so upon request. He said his department takes and vets all threats seriously.

“We’re in violent times as a country in general, let alone when it comes to political violence which we’re seeing a lot more of lately,” Byrd said. “Everyone has their right to believe what they believe in, they should be able to do it but you have to do it peacefully and you have to do it lawfully.”

The scheduled senior fair was cohosted by Keicher, state Rep. Bradley Fritts, R-Dixon. Fritts; House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna; and state Sens. Dave Syverson, R-Cherry Valley, and Sue Rezin, R-Morris, according to a release.

Illinois Senate Deputy GOP Minority Leader Rezin released a statement Friday.

“After communicating with law enforcement, we decided to postpone our Senior Health Fair due to a politically motivated and chilling threat of possible plans to commit an assassination at the event. Though we were disappointed that we weren’t able to assist members of our community at the date planned, ensuring the safety of our seniors, vendors, and staff was our top priority,” Rezin said.

With the days dwindling until the start of a new school year, a rescheduled date for the senior health fair is going to be more difficult to identify, Keicher said. The health fair would have offered area residents a chance to learn more about services available to them, and also provided them with free senior health screenings.

”The unfortunate timing of this is that school and teachers are going to be back in DeKalb High School in a matter of a couple of weeks, and at that point we can’t occupy it. So, we have sports teams that are starting their practices, and band and orchestra doing some summer stuff, so we will unfortunately have to find a new venue, put out a new date,” Keicher said.

Keicher invited anyone interested in attending a rescheduled senior far to contact one of the host legislator’s office to keep informed if a new date is chosen.

This is a developing story. This story was updated at 6:03 p.m. with additional comment from state Rep. Jeff Keicher. Additional comments by DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan and DeKalb Police Chief David Byrd were added at 6:30 p.m. July 19, 2024. Check back for further updates.