Rittenhouse released from Wisconsin jail on bond

Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old accused of shooting and killing two protesters in Kenosha, Wis., earlier this year, was released from the Kenosha County Jail on Friday afternoon. 

The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to The Hill that Rittenhouse was released after his $2 million bond was paid through an account set up by his attorneys. 

Rittenhouse is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the killing of two protesters and attempted intentional homicide in the wounding of a third when police say he shot three people in August during Kenosha’s protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

He’s also facing a misdemeanor charge of underage firearm possession for wielding a semi-automatic rifle. He faces life in prison.

Unrest erupted in Kenosha at the end of the summer after an officer shot Blake in the back several times while he was trying to get into his car. Blake survived the shooting, but is paralyzed from the injuries he suffered. 

The 17-year-old traveled across state lines from Illinois to Wisconsin during the unrest and was extradited back to the Badger State late last month.

Rittenhouse was too young to buy a rifle and had an adult friend purchase the AR-15 he allegedly used with stimulus money he received through an Illinois unemployment program.

The Illinois teenager maintained he was acting in self-defense when he shot the three people, and an array of right-wing groups have come to Rittenhouse’s support since the incident.

“I feel I had to protect myself,” he told The Washington Post this week. “I would have died that night if I didn’t.” 

“I was going into a place where people had guns and God forbid somebody brought a gun to me and decided to shoot me,” he said. “I wanted to be protected, which I ended up having to protect myself.”