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Local gun store owner charged with sexual assault and other criminal charges

Posted at 4:11 PM, Dec 06, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-06 18:53:56-05

STURTEVANT, Wis. — A local gun store owner faces nine criminal charges, including sexual assault with use of force, and intentionally pointing a gun at someone.

The gun store is called "Chambered" in Sturtevant. A sign on the door says "closed until further notice," because owner Johnathan Hennegan, is now in jail.

When police arrested the 34-year-old outside a home in Racine Wednesday, they say he had five guns in his car.

According to the criminal complaint, Hennegan was let into the home by a woman he knows, then "he grabbed her by the throat and forced her onto the couch where he punched her in the face with a closed fist approximately 10 times."

He then began strangling her.

Investigators say the victim told them Hennegan "started making suicidal statements," then raped her, while children were home, upstairs.

The complaint goes on to read, Hennegan "exited the residence and went to his vehicle, where he armed himself with a green handgun, then pointed the firearm at the victim from outside the residence."

The victim locked the door and called police as "Hennegan began banging on the door with the handgun."

Responding officers say Hennegan appeared intoxicated, was taken for sobriety tests, and arrested.

A Sturtevant police squad car sat outside "Chambered" on Friday afternoon. Customers, with orders to pick-up, showed-up with questions. They are sickened by the allegations they've read about.

Eventually someone let them into the store, and we saw some of the customers leave with guns. But what happens to "Chambered" and the pending purchases of other customers, is still unknown.

"You think about what that poor woman went through," said one customer. "It's just truly sad. The magnitude of what these charges or allegations are, blows your mind. That someone could do that. And that person sells guns, and is in this line of work. I would never come here in the future."

Hennegan has also been charged with “carrying a handgun where alcohol is sold and consumed” after he was found to have been carrying a Glock 21 while drinking at a bar on Nov. 5. Police reported that he has a valid concealed-carry permit.

Hennegan is charged with the following crimes: two counts of disorderly conduct, two counts of second-degree seuxal assault with use of force, strangulation and suffocation, battery, pointing a firearm at another person, possession of a firearm while intoxicated, carrying a handgun where alcohol is sold and consumed.