Court records show Ammar Houssamo had a long history of stalking his ex-husband’s new partner, Nick Calzaretta.
It started in August 2023, when Houssamo allegedly sent a message to Calzaretta on a dating app asking him to be “friends with benefits,” and soon escalated, the records show.
In a series of court filings, Calzaretta said Houssamo’s actions forced him to quit his job and made him worried about leaving home, fearing what his alleged stalker “would do next.”
Those fears weren’t unfounded, according to officials.
Cook County prosecutors say Houssamo tracked Calzaretta down as he was walking his dog Thursday morning in Edgewater. As Calzaretta screamed out “leave me alone,” Houssamo fatally shot him before turning the gun on himself, according to a police report.
Houssamo, 53, had previously referenced suicide while speaking to Calzaretta and his ex-husband, court records show. But Houssamo survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound last week, and he’s now charged with first-degree murder and illegal gun possession in the jarring attack in the 1400 block of West Thome Avenue.
The shooting came two years after Cook County Judge Donald D. Panarese Jr. vacated a protective order keeping Houssamo from contacting or interacting with Calzaretta or his then-husband.
Calzaretta’s younger brother, Russell, said the family is now questioning how Houssamo got the guns recovered by police, and why the protective order was lifted. He said the system failed his brother, as it has failed many others before.
“It’s disheartening to know there were so many red flags, and they weren’t taken seriously,” Russell Calzaretta told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“A piece of paper won’t protect him from bullets, but it’s all that we have in our justice system. To know Nick wasn’t protected by the people who are supposed to have our best interest at heart, it makes me wonder how many more people will be in the same situation, how many families will have to go through the same thing.”
Calzaretta, 37, was pronounced dead at Presence St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. Houssamo was hospitalized in critical condition and remained there, though he’s expected to appear at a detention hearing Tuesday, court records show.
Calzaretta was granted an emergency protective order against Houssamo in September 2023, according to court documents. In an amended petition filed a month later, Calzaretta said he had been “avoiding his routine social activities” and “obsessively thinking about what [Houssamo] would do next.”
Houssamo was repeatedly messaging him on social media and had sent at least 25 of Calzaretta’s co-workers emails about his sex life, Calzaretta alleged. It led Calzaretta to resign a short time later.
At the time, Calzaretta was dating Houssamo’s husband following the married couple’s separation months earlier, according to a lawsuit.
About a week after Houssamo learned Calzaretta was in a relationship with his estranged husband, he messaged Calzaretta on a dating website asking him to be “friends with benefits,” records show. Houssamo told his estranged husband about the message, saying he may start the divorce process and that it “‘it might kill me or I may kill myself soon after.”
Houssamo filed for divorce just days after Calzaretta’s order of protection was granted, records show. The court also ordered Houssamo to stay away from his ex.
The order was extended on Oct. 2, 2023, the same day Calzaretta said he rushed back inside his apartment when he saw Houssamo approaching the building. It was weeks after Houssamo sent him messages that again mentioned suicide and included explicit details of his prior relationship, Calzaretta alleged in court records.
In January 2024, Calzaretta filed a petition saying Houssamo had violated the order by posting videos about him on social media, according to court records. Houssamo was arrested and charged but was ultimately found not guilty of a violation.
Calzaretta attempted to extend the protective order, but it was dissolved in April 2024 without explanation in the court docket.
In August of that year, Houssamo sued Calzaretta for $75,000, alleging he intentionally inflicted emotional damage with the allegations made in his petition for the protective order. Houssamo argued that he never sent the emails to Calzaretta’s co-workers that led to Calzaretta’s resignation.
Houssamo and his ex-husband’s divorce proceedings wrapped up in January 2025, six months later, with a closing stipulation from the judge that Houssamo remove a post he made on Facebook about his ex-husband the day prior, according to court records.
Houssamo’s lawsuit against Calzaretta was dismissed last November, records show.
Russell said he hopes his brother’s death leads to reform around protective orders and gun control.
Legislation introduced in Springfield earlier this year would create higher penalties for violating protective court orders and make violating an order a felony, as opposed to a misdemeanor. The bills were brought in response to a 140% rise in domestic violence deaths since 2022.
“We need reform, and it needs to be harder for people to have guns, because my brother is gone and it’s not fair,” Russell said. “It doesn’t have to be this way. … I don’t want my brother to be a statistic because he was so much more than that.”
Ammar Houssamo is accused of fatally shooting Nick Calzaretta and then turning the gun on himself in a jarring attack last week. Calzaretta had previously obtained a protective order barring Houssamo from contacting him, but it was lifted more than two years ago.
Ammar Houssamo is accused of fatally shooting Nick Calzaretta and then turning the gun on himself in a jarring attack last week. Calzaretta had previously obtained a protective order barring Houssamo from contacting him, but it was lifted more than two years ago.
