By Allison Li
Kyle Rittenhouse, 17 years old, shot and killed two men (and injured a third) at the Jacob Blake protests in Wisconsin that occured over the summer. Jacob Blake was a black man who was shot in the back by a police officer on August 20th, sparking national outrage.
Rittenhouse was charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, and other charges such as being a minor possessing a firearm. He stated that he attended the protest with an AR-15 (bought with money from a coronavirus stimulus check) and medical kits with the intention of protecting local businesses and providing medical assistance.
He said in an interview that he doesn’t regret arming himself, and that he “would have died that night” if he didn’t. Rittenhouse claimed that he was acting in self defense, and was released from jail with a $2 million bond on November 20th.
Dominic Black, Rittenhouse’s friend, allegedly helped Rittenhouse obtain the firearm. When Rittenhouse was arrested, Black told a detective that Rittenhouse was “sweating like a pig. He’s just freaking out. His face is white. He’s like, ‘I’m going to jail for the rest of my life. I’m done.’”
Among the people who contributed to the $2 million fund are pillow company founder Mike Lindell and actor Ricky Schroder. Lindell contributed $50,000 and Schroder contributed $150,000 to the bail fund.
While Schroder is a conservative, Lindell is a vocal Trump supporter. Twitter has flagged Lindell’s tweets of baseless conspiracy theories claiming that Trump was cheated of his presidential victory.
Rittenhouse’s defense attorney, Lin Wood, posted on Twitter after Kyle was freed from jail, “Kyle is a hero. So are his supporters. Keep him in your prayers”. Rittenhouse is now free from custody, but has a preliminary hearing on December 3rd.
