Kyle Rittenhouse, the 19-year-old who killed two people with a shotgun and wounded a third during racial protests in the summer of 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was found not guilty: he claimed he acted in self-defense.
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT IN WASHINGTON
Acquitted. And with full formula. Kyle Rittenhouse
, 19 years old, was acquitted today, Friday 19 November, of the charge of killing two demonstrators, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36 years old and Anthony Huber, 26, on August 25, 2020 in Keinosha, Wisconsin. It was Black Lives Matter protest season in Minneapolis.
The jury accepted the thesis of Kyle’s lawyers: the boy acting in self-defense. Rejected all the evidence put together by the Prosecutor’s Office, also thanks to the use of drones. According to the indictment, Rittenhouse was looking for trouble that night, along with his militia comrades. The Wisconsin town awaited the verdict amid tensions. Protests are now feared and there is fear of possible violence. The Governor of the state, Democrat Tony Evers, has already mobilized 500 National Guard troops.
But let’s get back to that guerrilla scene, between 25 and 26 August. just past midnight, when a kid with a baseball cap turned backwards moves along Sheridan Road in the center of town for the third consecutive night in no man’s land. He carries a long-barreled shotgun over his shoulder. From the images it looks like an Ar-15 semi-automatic submachine gun, for sale as if it were a gardening tool in much of America. Who ? Where does it come from? It is later revealed that his name is Kyle Rittenhouse and that he is part of an armed militia, the Kenosha Guard. They met via Facebook to protect the property, specifically a gas station and some nearby shops.
The videos show a dramatic sequence. The young man advances into the dark street. A small group of demonstrators chase him, join him. Someone throws him to the ground and tries to disarm him. But the furious reaction. Several shots start: a body can be seen on the asphalt. Kyle now has time to get up and escape. He disappears into thin air but the next morning he is arrested in Antioch, Illinois: he is only 17 years old. Kenosha’s clashes began after a policeman hit the African American in the back with seven shots. Jacob Blake
, 29 years old. The man was trying to quell an altercation between two women. According to the family’s attorney, Patrick Salvi, Blake was not armed.
November 19, 2021 (change November 19, 2021 | 20:15)
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