© Video screenshot/Twitter/Richie McGinnissKyle Rittenhouse speaking to street reporter several hours previous to the shooting
Attorneys for Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old charged with killing two people and wounding another during a riot on Tuesday, said the teenager "did nothing wrong" and only pulled the trigger to defend himself from harm.
"Kyle did nothing wrong. He exercised his God-given, Constitutional, common law and statutory right to self defense," Pierce Bainbridge, the law firm representing Rittenhouse, said in a press release Friday evening.
Rittenhouse is facing
six charges from
the shooting, including first degree intentional homicide and attempted intentional homicide
Video from the incident shows a group of people chasing after Rittenhouse, someone other than Rittenhouse firing a shot into the air, and then Rittenhouse turning around and shooting one of the men chasing him. As Rittenhouse fled from the scene of the first shooting, he tripped and was set upon by several other individuals who were chasing him, videos show.
Rittenhouse shot two of the men as they lunged at him while he was on the ground, according to video from the scene. All three of the shooting victims were convicted criminals with crimes ranging from sexual conduct with a minor to felony strangulation,
court documents reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.
"A 17-year-old child should not have to take up arms in America to protect life and property. That is the job of state and local governments," John Pierce, the law firm's founder, said in a press release Friday.
"However, those governments have failed, and law-abiding citizens have no choice but to protect their own communities as their forefathers did at Lexington and Concord in 1775. Kyle is not a racist or a white supremacist," Pierce added.
"He is a brave, patriotic, compassionate law-abiding American who loves his country and his community," he said.
Peter Hasson is the investigative editor at the Daily Caller News Foundation and the author of The Manipulators: Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Big Tech's War on Conservatives
Comment: There was speculation on the 'net as to why a youth from Illinois was present at a violent event in Wisconson: The Gateway Pundit reports:
Kyle Rittenhouse is a community lifeguard who was working in Kenosha the day of the shooting.
This simple fact destroys the narrative being peddled by the mainstream media that he had "crossed state lines" to harm the rioters.
In a statement by Rittenhouse's legal team at Pierce Bainbridge, provided to the Gateway Pundit, they explained that "after Kyle finished his work that day as a community lifeguard in Kenosha, he wanted to help clean up some of the damage, so he and a friend went to the local public high school to remove graffiti by rioters."
Additionally, the weapon Rittenhouse was using to protect himself and others never crossed state lines.
"Later in the day, they received information about a call for help from a local business owner, whose downtown Kenosha auto dealership was largely destroyed by mob violence," the statement continues. "Business owner needed help to protect what he had left of his life's work, including two nearby mechanic's shops. Kyle and a friend armed themselves with rifles due to the deadly violence gripping Kenosha and many other American cities, and headed to the business premises. The weapons were in Wisconsin and never crossed state lines."
When Rittenhouse arrived at the mechanics shop, he and others stood guard to prevent further destruction. Later that night, long after the 8 p.m. curfew had passed, the police began to disperse a group of rioters. His lawyer, John M. Pierce, explains that while dispersing the mob, they maneuvered a mass of individuals down the street towards the auto shops. Rittenhouse and the others were threatened and taunted, but he did not react. "His intent was not to incite violence, but simply to deter property damage and use his training to provide first aid to injured community members," Pierce says.
After the situation seemed to be diffused, Rittenhouse became increasingly concerned about people who were injured at the gas station, so he went in that direction with his first aid kit. He helped those he could find who were injured, either by administering aid or directing them which way to go for help beyond what he could offer.
The statement says that by the final time that Rittenhouse returned to the gas station and "confirmed there were no more injured individuals who needed assistance, police had advanced their formation and blocked what would have been his path back to the mechanic's shop. Kyle then complied with the police instructions not to go back there. Kyle returned to the gas station until he learned of a need to help protect the second mechanic's shop further down the street where property destruction was imminent with no police were nearby."
"As Kyle proceeded towards the second mechanic's shop, he was accosted by multiple rioters who recognized that he had been attempting to protect a business the mob wanted to destroy. This outraged the rioters and created a mob now determined to hurt Kyle. They began chasing him down. Kyle attempted to get away, but he could not do so quickly enough. Upon the sound of a gunshot behind him, Kyle turned and was immediately faced with an attacker lunging towards him and reaching for his rifle. He reacted instantaneously and justifiably with his weapon to protect himself, firing and striking the attacker," Pierce explains.
Additionally, Rittenhouse stopped to ensure care for his attacker, hardly sounds like someone who had went to the riot with intent to kill.
"Kyle stopped to ensure care for the wounded attacker but faced a growing mob gesturing towards him. He realized he needed to flee for his safety and his survival. Another attacker struck Kyle from behind as he fled down the street. Kyle turned as the mob pressed in on him and he fell to the ground," his legal team says. "One attacker kicked Kyle on the ground while he was on the ground. Yet another bashed him over the head with a skateboard. Several rioters tried to disarm Kyle. In fear for his life and concerned the crowd would either continue to shoot at him or even use his own weapon against him, Kyle had no choice but to fire multiple rounds towards his immediate attackers, striking two, including one armed attacker. The rest of the mob began to disperse upon hearing the additional gunshots."
Rittenhouse then attempted to turn himself in, but was told to keep moving. He went and turned himself in to his local police that evening.
"Kyle got up and continued down the street in the direction of police with his hands in the air. He attempted to contact multiple police officers, but they were more concerned with the wounded attackers. The police did not take Kyle into custody at that time, but instead they indicated he should keep moving," the statement says. "He fully cooperated, both then and later that night when he turned himself in to the police in his hometown, Antioch, Illinois."
The legal team says that "in a reactionary rush to appease the divisive, destructive forces currently roiling this country, prosecutors in Kenosha did not engage in any meaningful analysis of the facts, or any in-depth review of available video footage (some of which shows that a critical state's witness was not even at the area where the shots were fired); this was not a serious investigation. Rather, after learning Kyle may have had conservative political viewpoints, they immediately saw him as a convenient target who they could use as a scapegoat to distract from the Jacob Blake shooting and the government's abject failure to ensure basic law and order to citizens. Within 24-36 hours, he was charged with multiple homicide counts."
Rittenhouse is now being represented by some of the best legal minds in the country at Pierce Bainbridge, with help from Nicholas Sandmann's lawyer Lin Wood.
"A 17-year old child should not have to take up arms in America to protect life and property. That is the job of state and local governments. However, those governments have failed, and law-abiding citizens have no choice but to protect their own communities as their forefathers did at Lexington and Concord in 1775," Pierce said. "Kyle is not a racist or a white supremacist. He is a brave, patriotic, compassionate law-abiding American who loves his country and his community. He did nothing wrong. He defended himself, which is a fundamental right of all Americans given by God and protected by law. He is now in the crosshairs of institutional forces that are much more powerful than him. But he will stand up to them and fight not only for himself, but for all Americans and their beloved Constitution. We will never leave his side until he is victorious in that fight."
Rittenhouse has had several high-profile legal teams offer to
represent him, including the firm that defended the Covington students.
Lin Wood, the high-profile lawyer who represents Kentucky student Nick Sandmann, will defend Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who was charged with killing two people during the riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
DailyMail.com reported a legal defense fund has been established by supporters who vow to "obtain justice" for him.
Wood wrote on Twitter: "Thanks to ALL Freedom Loving Americans who responded to requests for contact information on Kyle Rittenhouse. We have connected with Kyle's family & help is on the way. Kyle will have excellent legal representation. We owe him a legal defense."
Conservative groups have established a
legal defense fund for Rittenhouse:
A conservative student group called College Republicans United at Arizona State University is raising money for the teen suspected of killing two people and injuring another at a protest in Kenosha, Wis., this week.
Rittenhouse has been
granted a delay for his extradition hearing:
A judge on Friday granted Kyle Rittenhouse's request to delay his extradition hearing to September 25.
The Illinois judge postponed a decision on whether 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse should be returned to Wisconsin to face charges after he killed two men in what now appears to be acts of self defense, reported AP.
Rittenhouse was arrested on Wednesday and is currently being held at a Lake County juvenile center.
Noted attorney Lin Wood defended Rittenhouse and said the teen was acting in self defense.
Good ole American values: property, stuff, objects, things, possessions. It is worth risking your life for, indeed to kill your fellow man over. And not even your own junk, but someone else's, so on top of all his other noble qualities, he is also self-sacrificing. His spirit animal is a junkyard dog.