AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, Pool
- The mother of Kyle Rittenhouse, who is accused of killing two people and wounding another with a firearm at Jacob Blake protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August, said her son “didn’t go down there to hurt anybody.”
- The 17-year-old teen is facing several charges including first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide.
- “If he did not have that gun, he would have been dead. When I heard the charges, I was like, how? You look at the videos, it’s all self-defense,” Wendy Rittenhouse told WISN-TV on Sunday.
- Wendy Rittenhouse told WISN-TV that he wishes that her son stayed home that night and mimicked previous sentiments that her son “was there to help people.”
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Kyle Rittenhouse’s mother said her son, who is accused of shooting and killing people at late August Jacob Blake protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, “didn’t go down there to hurt anybody.”
In an interview with WISN-TV’s Hillary Mintz, Wendy Rittenhouse told local news her son was “there to help people.” Wendy told the station that she wishes her son “stayed home. But no one should have never went down to Kenosha. I mean, people were rioting, looting, burning down the city,” she said.
On August 25, protests erupted in Kenosha following the shooting of Jacob Blake by local law enforcement. Rittenhouse, 17, of Antioch, Illinois traveled across state lines with an AR-15 style rifle that he purchased from a friend to Kenosha and is accused of killing two people Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and injuring Gaige Grosskreutz during the civil unrest. Footage of the incident circulated online and shows Rittenhouse shooting at protesters.
Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Rittenhouse was taken into police custody one day later and posted a $2million bond in late November with the assistance of actor Ricky Schroder as well as MyPillow CEO and Trump ally, Mike Lindell.
The teen faces several charges including first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide.
"If he did not have that gun, he would have been dead," Wendy Rittenhouse told WISN-TV on Sunday. "When I heard the charges, I was like, how? You look at the videos, it's all self-defense."
Wendy has previously spoken out about her son's intentions of attending the protests. She told the Chicago Tribune in November that her son was "helping" local businesses from protesters and looters, as Insider's Yelena Dzhanova reported.
"The police should have helped the businesses out instead," Wendy Rittenhouse said. "The police should have been involved with these people that lost their businesses. They should have stepped up. I'm not mad at the police. I'm not. They have a hard enough job as it is."