Police have arrested the white teenager who opened fire on Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha on Tuesday, killing two people and injuring a third. Seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, a self-declared militia member and avid Trump supporter who was spotted front row at one of the president’s rallies in January, was apprehended in Antioch, Illinois, Wednesday and charged with murder. On social media, Kyle Rittenhouse posted frequently in support of the pro-police “Blue Lives Matter” movement, posed with guns, and appeared in a photo when he was just 15 years old wearing a police uniform as part of a “Public Safety Cadet Program.”
Eyewitness videos of Rittenhouse’s rampage show a shooter with a long gun falling to the ground and shooting into a crowd as protesters attempt to disarm him. Later videos show that police then allowed Rittenhouse to leave the scene even as people attempted to identify him as the shooter.
At a news conference Wednesday, Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis blamed protesters for the deadly assault. This all comes as damning video from earlier in the night show Kenosha police offering armed vigilantes water.
Police officer: “We got to save a couple, but we’ll give you a couple. We appreciate you guys. We really do.
Armed vigilantes: “Thank you! Thank you!”