‘I just killed somebody’ Vigilantes inject danger into police brutality protests in Kenosha, nationwide A 17-year-old answering a call to arms faces murder charges after allegedly shooting two men to death during a protest over a police shooting
Kyle Rittenhouse By Jim Malewitz and Vanessa Swales Standing in front of a burned-out Kenosha business Tuesday night, Kyle Rittenhouse said he was there to quell violence and protect property in the southeastern Wisconsin city after a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, in the back Sunday. “People are getting injured, and our job is to protect this business,” the 17-year-old told the conservative Daily Caller while wearing an Army-green T-shirt with a long gun slung across his back. “If there’s somebody hurt, I’m running into harm’s way. That’s why I have my weapon, because I need to protect myself.” Rittenhouse, who lives 20 miles away in Antioch, Ill., arrived following a widely disseminated call to arms to protect property issued by the Kenosha Guard, a militia group whose leaders include a former Kenosha City Council
8 Sept. 3, 2020 DuluthReader.com
Protesters argue with members of an armed militia group, right, as a dumpster burns near the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis., on Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. Members of the militia group had earlier said they arrived to protect the right to peaceful protest, but they confronted protesters as people began to damage property. The protest was sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha the night before. Photo by Will Cioci / Wisconsin Watch. tured at the scene. member. Police have offered no As police in armored clear explanation on why vehicles exhorted protesters Rittenhouse was allowed to leave because of an to return to Antioch before 8 p.m. curfew aimed at being arrested. curbing violence and By Wednesday morning, property damage, video the teenager sat in a Lake showed an officer thanking WIS. CENTER FOR County, Ill., jail, awaiting the armed men and a hearing on extradition to tossing a bottle of water to INESTIGATIVE Wisconsin in 30 days on Rittenhouse. JOURNALISM two charges of first-degree Just before midnight, homicide, one charge of gunfire would echo, attempted murder for the scattering bystanders and wounding of another protester and leaving two Wisconsinites dead and a three other charges. The teen’s legal third injured. “I just killed somebody,” Rittenhouse team says he acted in self defense. Rittenhouse was among a group could be heard saying in a video cap-
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of armed vigilantes who descended Tuesday night on Uptown Kenosha, a business district in the city on Lake Michigan. Their presence added volatility to a third consecutive night of violent unrest after Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Blake seven times in the back as he walked away from police and tried to enter a vehicle with his children inside on Sunday, leaving him paralyzed. Rittenhouse’s rapid descent to accused killer illustrated the stakes of what experts call a growing trend: Militias, far-right groups and other armed vigilantes — often mobilized on social media — showing up at racial justice protests, escalating chaos and
