Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois 17-year-old who killed two people with an illegally purchased assault rifle during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been released after his lawyers posted $2 million in bail, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.
Rittenhouse had a friend in Wisconsin illegally buy an assault rifle he could use while walking through the streets of Kenosha during unrest following the police homicide of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man.
Claiming he and his associates were protecting private property, Rittenhouse shot three people, killing two of them, with the illegally purchased weapon. Rittenhouse traveled from Antioch, Illinois and received a AR-15 style assault rifle he had arranged for a friend, Dominick David Black, to buy for him.
It is illegal for a minor to buy a semi-automatic weapon in Wisconsin. Black falsely signed a affidavit that he was purchasing the weapon for himself, and he paid for the weapon with coronavirus relief money that had been sent to Rittenhouse. Black is facing two felony charges regarding that illegal purchase.
Rittenhouse is facing numerous felony charges, including two counts of first degree reckless homicide, for the August 25th crimes.
His attorney, L. Lin Wood–who represents, among other, Nick Sandmann, the smirking teen from the Lincoln Memorial confrontation with a Native American, and Donald J. Trump, the outgoing president who unsuccessfully challenged Georgia’s presidential election–and Rittenhouse’s mother have been on numerous conservative media begging for money for bail and to pay Wood’s legal fees.
Wood has also announced that he will represent Rittenhouse in a slander lawsuit against President-elect Joe Biden, claiming a campaign ad that featured Rittenhouse violated the shooter’s civil rights.