Teen accused of killing 2 thrust into debate over protests
Associated PressANTIOCH, Ill. — A white 17-year-old who says he went to protests in Wisconsin to protect businesses and people has become a flashpoint in a debate over anti-racism demonstrations that have gripped many American cities and the vigilantism that has sometimes met them. On Tuesday, Kyle Rittenhouse grabbed an AR-15 style rifle and joined several other armed people in the streets of Kenosha, where businesses had been vandalized and buildings burned following a police shooting that left Jacob Blake, a Black man, paralyzed. In the attorney’s description of events, Rittenhouse had tried to offer medical help to injured people before he was “accosted by multiple rioters,” leading him to open fire. “I just killed somebody,” Rittenhouse says into his cellphone, according to the complaint, and he starts running and several people give chase. On Friday, Miskinis described a chaotic scene to reporters and said that “there was nothing to suggest that this person was involved in any criminal behavior.” Miskinis said it was not a lapse in judgment to not stop Rittenhouse and ask for identification to see if he was old enough to carry a weapon, given the number of people on the street, many wearing masks that obscured their faces.