Kyle Rittenhouse is Caught on Video Shooting Protesters | YouTube
On Tuesday, Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two people and injured a third. Rittenhouse, who is 17, had carried a rifle into protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and was allegedly “defending” parked cars. Rittenhouse apparently wanted to keep protesters from damaging property. At some point during the evening, he shot a protester in the head.
Following this murder, a protestor struck Rittenhouse with a skateboard. Rittenhouse subsequently shot and killed this person. Rittenhouse further shot a third protester in the arm.
Reportedly, cellphone footage from before Tuesday night’s shooting showed police officers thanking armed civilians for being on the streets after curfew and offering them bottles of water.
According to Rittenhouse’s social media and data backups, militant police culture enamors him. His social media includes numerous posts including phrases like “back the blue” and “blue lives matter”. He also shows an extreme affinity for guns on his social media. In numerous posts, he argues for Americans to carry firearms and know how to operate them.
The shooter was also a former member of a “Police Explorer” program. The leaders of the program designed it for youth cadets that want to someday join the police force.
While “defending” random parked cars, Rittenhouse openly carried a rifle on a strap around his neck.
Many reports have noted that Rittenhouse’s social media shows he was an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, and attended one of his rallies in January. After hearing that Rittenhouse attended a rally, soon-departing White House advisor Kellyanne Conway told reporters that it was incidental. She noted the White House is “not responsible for the private conduct of people who go to rallies”. Many pundits online were angry with the answer. Some say she painted Rittenhouse as a “lone wolf”, a trope many apply to young, white, male murderers.
After Rittenhouse killed two people and seriously injured another, he fled to the neighboring state of Illinois. There, Antioch police arrested him on suspicion of murder.
The 17-year-old double murderer is now awaiting extradition to Wisconsin for his crimes. After his Wednesday arrest, officials charged Rittenhouse with first-degree intentional murder. The courts will try him as an adult.
Rittenhouse’s gruesome shootings echo the 2017 Charlottesville protests. During the “Unite the Right” rally, a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of protesters and killed a young woman named Heather Heyer. Heyer’s killer is now in prison.
