UPDATE 2:10 PM 11/20/24 — The Mehlers each have a bond set for $1,000. Both have a preliminary hearing scheduled for Dec. 12.
MILWAUKEE – A father-son pair charged with tearing down a controversial mural on Milwaukee’s north side make their first appearance in court Wednesday.
Peter Mehler, 73, and his son Zechariah Mehler, 42, are charged with criminal damage to property, which carries a maximum sentence of three-and-a-half years in prison or $10,000 in fines if convicted.
Police said the pair were captured on surveillance cameras using an ax and a sledgehammer to tear down the mural at Holton and Locust Streets on the night of September 14th. The following night, the criminal complaint notes the pair came back to the site, where Zechariah allegedly said “I didn’t get the job done yesterday, so I might as well get it done today.”
The mural depicting a swastika intertwined with the Jewish Star of David was subject to controversy almost as soon as it was put up on the building earlier in September by owner Ihsan Atta, who says it was intended to raise awareness of the ongoing War in Gaza.
The mural had been sprayed with a black substance just days after it replaced a previous mural honoring Breonna Taylor, a Black medical worker who was shot and killed by police officers in Louisville, Kentucky in March of 2020. The Mehlers are not charged in connection to that incident of vandalism.
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