Seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder in the shooting deaths of two people during the Tuesday night riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Insider.com reports that Rittenhouse is from Antioch, Illinois, and was allegedly armed with an AR-15 Tuesday night. He allegedly “crossed state lines to stand guard outside businesses during unrest stemming from the… [August 23, 2020] police shooting of Jacob Blake.”
Rittenhouse allegedly shot three people Tuesday night, two of whom succumbed to their wounds. The incident was captured on amateur cell phone footage and quickly went viral.
USA Today’s Nick Penzenstadler tweeted:
Court records show he's been assigned a public defender and will appear for extradition hearing on 8/28
— Nick Penzenstadler (@npenzenstadler) August 26, 2020
Although there were numerous armed civilians, an eyewitness described Rittenhouse as “more erratic and ‘on edge’ than the others.”
A Getty Images photographer appears to have captured a photo Rittenhouse earlier in the day, though he is not identified in its caption.
Volunteers clean graffiti from a high school near the Kenosha County Courthouse following another night of unrest on August 25, 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
He briefly spoke to The Blaze’s Elijah Schaffer the night of the shooting, saying he was “protecting” local residents’ property — and declaring that he and his associates “don’t have non-lethal” means of resisting the rioters.
CONTEXT: I spoke with the alleged shooter earlier in the night who stated he was there to protect property
He did not make racist comments, condemn #BLM, or mention political motivations for his actions
He said that he was there to protect property & was carrying a firearm pic.twitter.com/ViYUB65tiy
— ELIJAH RIOT (@ElijahSchaffer) August 26, 2020
ABC 30 reports that Rittenhouse “is being held at a juvenile facility in Illinois.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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