Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace on May 15, , in Laurel , Maryland , leaving Wallace permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Bremer was found guilty and sentenced to 63 years 53 years after an appeal in a Maryland prison for the shooting of Wallace and three bystanders. After 35 years of incarceration, Bremer was released from prison on November 9, He was raised by his working-class parents on the south side of Milwaukee and lived in a dysfunctional household.
Bremer stated "I would escape my ugly reality by pretending that I was living with a television family and there was no yelling at home or no one to hit me. Though he played football with the freshman-sophomore team and tried out for the wrestling team during the school year, Bremer did not make friends, and he remained a solitary student until his graduation from South Division High School. After graduating from high school, Bremer briefly attended Milwaukee Area Technical College , studying aerial photography, art, writing, and psychology; he dropped out after one semester.
Bremer was employed as a busboy at the Milwaukee Athletic Club from March In , Bremer was demoted to kitchen work after customers complained that he talked to himself and that "he whistled and marched in tune with music played in the dining room. The complaint was investigated and dismissed.
On September 1, , Bremer got a part-time job working as a janitor at Story Elementary School, which he quit after almost 18 months, on January 31, On October 16, , after an argument, Bremer moved from his parents' house to a three-room one-bedroom apartment near Marquette University , where he lived until May 9, Late on the night of November 18, , Bremer was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon and for parking in a no-parking zone.
A court-appointed psychiatrist declared Bremer mentally ill, yet stable enough to continue to live in the community. On December 8, , Bremer pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. After a short relationship ended and he quit both of his jobs, on March 1, , Bremer began his Assassin's Diary with the words "It is my personal plan to assassinate by pistol either Richard Nixon or George Wallace.
