Kyle Rittenhouse won't face charges in Illinois related to Kenosha protest shootings
Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old gunman charged with killing two men with an AR-15 rifle in Wisconsin during protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, will not face firearm charges in his home state of Illinois.
The Lake County State's Attorney's Office said in a statement on Tuesday that an investigation by the Antioch Police Department in Illinois revealed the gun allegedly used by Rittenhouse in the Kenosha shooting on Aug. 25 was "purchased, stored and used in Wisconsin."
There is no evidence the gun was ever physically possessed by Rittenhouse in Illinois, the office said.
Rittenhouse is being held at a juvenile detention center in Lake County without bond. He is charged in Wisconsin with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the fatal shootings of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and one count of attempted intentional homicide in the wounding of a third man, Gaige P. Grosskreutz.
He also faces a misdemeanor charge of underage firearm possession for wielding a semi-automatic rifle.
Rittenhouse's attorneys have argued the shootings were in self-defense and the charges are part of a "political prosecution."
Lake County State's Attorney's Office and authorities in Antioch said they will not be releasing any additional details regarding the investigation, as to not disrupt any investigation in Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse was arrested at his Antioch home a day after the shootings at the Kenosha protest.
Video of the shooting, which circulated online, further inflamed an already volatile situation in which a white police officer shot Blake, who is Black, seven times in the back. Blake survived and his family says he's paralyzed from the waist down.
After his arrest, Rittenhouse was hailed by some on the right as a vigilante who was exercising his Second Amendment rights. In recent weeks, online fundraising efforts on his behalf have amassed millions of dollars in donations.
Rittenhouse is due back in Lake County court on Oct. 30 and awaits extradition to Wisconsin, which his attorneys are fighting, saying last week that it would “turn him over to the mob."
CORRECTION (Oct. 14, 2020, 8:05 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated that Jacob Blake had been fatally shot by police. Blake survived the shooting and his family says he is paralyzed.
