In an interview with the Washington Post, 17-year-old killer Kyle Rittenhouse has revealed that he used the stimulus check he received from the United States government to buy the AR-15 assault rifle that he then used to kill 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber. Rittenhouse is currently in prison awaiting trial for the murders.
It is also revealed that he was too young to buy the weapon, being 17 at the time, but that a friend, Dominick Black, used the money Rittenhouse gave him to buy the powerful weapon on his behalf. Black has been charged with giving a weapon to a minor.
Kyle Rittenhouse used coronavirus stimulus check to buy AR-15 used in fatal shooting... https://t.co/XSRteZq4Tx #drudge
— Drudge Report App (@drudgereportapp) November 19, 2020
Rittenhouse told the Washington post in the interview:
"I got my $1,200 from the coronavirus Illinois unemployment 'cause I was on furlough from YMCA and I got my first unemployment check so I was like, 'Oh, I'll use this to buy it'"
The killings occurred in Wisconsin at a Black Lives Matter protest. The BLM protest was one of thousands that took place throughout the summer of 2020 after being sparked by the police killing of George Floyd.
The protestors demanded an end to police violence and discrimination against black people at the hands of the authorities. Many of the protests descended into full scale riots and were the worst social disturbances seen in the United States since at least the late 1960s.
Rittenhouse had travelled to the protest in Wisconsin as part of a militia type grouping who were armed and vowed to maintain public order. On his Facebook page, various badges such as 'Back the Blue' and other pro-law enforcement propaganda was found. He was at one point chased down the street by BLM protestors, he then turned and fired multiple rounds from his assault rifle, killing 2 and seriously wounding another.
Explaining why he bought the gun, he told the Washington Post:
"I was going to a place were people had guns and God forbid somebody brought a gun to me and decided to shoot me. I wanted to be protected which I ended up having to protect myself."
Rittenhouse's bail has been set at $2 million and he has been kept in custody on the basis that he is a potential flight risk. Many right-wing and pro-Trump groups have put up large sums of money for his legal defence. He maintains that the murders were in self-defence. It is as of yet unclear on what date the trial will take place.
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