Kenosha gunman Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, who is charged with killing two people during a Black Lives Matter protest, posted $2million bail today and was released from custody.
Rittenhouse is accused of fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz during a demonstration August 25 that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha. He posted bond through his attorney at about 2pm, Kenosha County Sheriff’s Sgt. David Wright said.
Former NYPD Blue actor Ricky Schroeder and My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell helped stump up the cash to free him along with other supporters.
Attorney Lin Wood shared a photo of Rittenhouse alongside Schroeder just hours after he was free and captioned it ‘FREE AT LAST!!!’
She also tweeted: ‘Just off phone with Kyle. With tears in my eyes, I listened as he expressed thanks to The People for your prayers, donations & support. He prayed every day & night & said God lifted him up every time he fell. Kyle is a hero. So are his supporters. Keep him in your prayers.’
Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Illinois, told police he was attacked while he was guarding a business and that he fired in self-defense.
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Rittenhouse, center, smiles alongside attorney John Pierce (left) and actor Ricky Schroeder (right)
Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, who is charged with killing two people during a protest in Wisconsin, posted $2million bail today and was released from custody
In this August 25 photo, Rittenhouse carries a weapon as he walks along Sheridan Road in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a night of unrest
He faces multiple charges, including intentional homicide, reckless endangerment and being a minor in possession of a firearm. Wisconsin law doesn’t permit minors to carry or possess a gun unless they’re hunting. He is due back in court on December 3 for a preliminary hearing.
His case has taken on political overtones. Supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement have painted Rittenhouse as a trigger-happy white supremacist.
Conservatives upset over property destruction during recent protests have portrayed him as a patriot exercising his right to bear arms during unrest. A legal defense fund for him has attracted millions of dollars in donations, and his mother got a standing ovation from women at a Waukesha County GOP function in September.
Attorney Lin Wood shared a photo of Rittenhouse alongside Schroeder just hours after he was free and captioned it ‘FREE AT LAST!!!’
Rittenhouse is pictured sitting on the ground and aiming his gun at a protester with his hands raised, while another person is seen on the right clutching his chest after being shot
A judge set Rittenhouse’s bail at $2million after declaring him a flight risk
Huber’s father, John Huber, asked Kenosha County Circuit Court Commissioner Loren Keating during a hearing November 2 to set Rittenhouse’s bail between $4million and $10million.
Huber said Rittenhouse thinks he’s above the law and noted the effort to raise money on his behalf. He also suggested militia groups would hide him from police if he were released.
Rittenhouse’s attorney, Mark Richards, asked for $750,000 bail.
Keating ultimately set bail at $2million, saying Rittenhouse was a flight risk given the seriousness of the charges against him.
Rittenhouse’s release from custody comes a day after The Washington Post published a jailhouse interview with the 17-year-old, in which he revealed that he had used his $1,200 government stimulus check to purchase the AR-15-style gun used in the shooting through a friend because he was too young to buy it himself.
Rittenhouse is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the killing of two protesters: Joseph Rosenbaum (left) and Anthony Huber (right)
Dominic Black, 19, previously told authorities that he purchased the weapon at a hardware store in Wisconsin and kept it for Rittenhouse at his own home.
Rittenhouse’s friend Dominick Black, 19, was charged with supplying a dangerous weapon to a minor
During a police interview the day after the shootings, Black told investigators that Rittenhouse was ‘freaking out’ and feared spending the rest of his life in prison, according to the video released after a FOIA request by the Chicago Tribune.
‘The dude’s sweating like a pig. He’s just freaking out. His face is white,’ Black said in the police interview. ‘He’s like, ‘I’m going to jail for the rest of my life. I’m done.’ (He’s) just scared.’
Black was later charged with two felony counts of illegally providing a minor with a firearm, one count for each man who died.
In the Post interview, Rittenhouse described himself as ‘patriotic’ and claimed that he opened fire in self-defense because he feared for his life.
‘I feel I had to protect myself,’ he told The Post. ‘I would have died that night if I didn’t.’
Rittenhouse said in a recent interview that he bought his AR-15-style rifle (pictured on the night of the shootings) through a friend using money from a government stimulus check
Rittenhouse claimed self-defense, saying he believes he would have been killed had he not opened fire
Rittenhouse’s mother has said her son also felt the need to protect businesses in Kenosha from the looting that erupted after Blake was shot seven times in the back two nights earlier. Blake’s family says he is paralyzed from the waist down.
‘It’s a tragedy what happened to Mr. Blake. It is,’ Wendy Rittenhouse told the Chicago Tribune. ‘But my son and everybody else should not have been in Kenosha.’
President Donald Trump has suggested the shootings may have been justified because it appeared Rittenhouse was trying to fend off violent attackers.
Videos show armed civilians arriving in Kenosha after a local militia group, the Kenosha Guard, put out a call to arms on Facebook. Police didn’t stop them as they walked down the street and, in one video, officers handed them bottles of water.
In another video, Kyle Rittenhouse, armed with an assault rifle, explained to a reporter that he was protecting a business from looting.
Kyle’s mother, Wendy Rittenhouse, has defended her son, saying he was trying to protect businesses in Kenosha from looting