Man charged with threatening to shoot Ald. Brian Hopkins

A Northwest Side man threatened to shoot Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) during a phone conversation with one of the alderman’s assistants on Wednesday, before he showed up at Hopkins’ house later that night, according to Cook County prosecutors.

Jozef Wysocki, 70, faces a felony charge of threatening a public official, court documents show.

Prosecutors said Saturday that Wysocki called Hopkins’ office days earlier to ask why traffic was blocked off for construction at Noble and Chestnut streets, an intersection on the border of Hopkins’ Near North Side ward.

After an assistant in Hopkins’ Wicker Park office told Wysocki the reason for the construction, Wysocki began swearing and mentioned an “armed revolution,” prosecutors said at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. The assistant told Wysocki there was no need to swear before he hung up the phone.

Wysocki called back three minutes later to continue his tirade with a different assistant, but this time he said he would shoot the alderman, claiming to know where he lived, prosecutors said. The assistant hung up and dialed 911 before calling Hopkins.

About 10:30 p.m., Hopkins’ wife — who hadn’t been told of the threats — saw a man lurking in front of their Lincoln Park home, according to prosecutors. She told her husband, who called police.

Officers found Wysocki by tracking the phone number used in the calls and arrested him Thursday night at his Portage Park home, prosecutors said. A search through his call history showed multiple calls to the alderman’s office, authorities said.

Hopkins declined comment Saturday evening, referring questions to the CPD News Affairs office.

Judge David R. Navarro set Wysocki’s bail at $10,000 and ordered him placed on house arrest if he posts bond.

Wysocki, dressed in a button-up shirt and slacks, let out several outbursts at the hearing, including a suggestion for the judge to speak to an assistant state’s attorney who he’s known 20 years.

Prosecutors said Wysocki has no felony convictions. He’s due back in court on Thursday.