Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old suburban teen charged with killing two during protests in Kenosha, was released from jail after posting $2 million bond. NBC 5’s Stefan Holt reports.
Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois teen charged with fatally shooting two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during unrest over the summer, has been released from the Kenosha County Jail after his bond was posted Friday, authorities confirmed.
Rittenhouse's bond was posted at 2 p.m. Friday, according to the Kenosha County Sheriff's office.
"He is no longer in custody at the Kenosha County Jail," a spokesperson for the sheriff's office said in a statement.
Kenosha County prosecutors had charged Rittenhouse of Antioch, Illinois, with fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber during a protest over a police shooting in August. They've also charged him with wounding a third man, Gaige Grosskreutz.
Rittenhouse faces multiple counts, including intentional homicide and illegally possessing a gun. His attorneys contend he was acting in self-defense. The case has been a rallying point for conservatives upset with property destruction during protests across the country this year.
Rittenhouse turned himself in to police in Antioch the morning after the shootings. He was later extradited to Wisconsin and his bail was set at $2 million.
Rittenhouse spoke publicly in his first interview since his arrest earlier this week.
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In a phone interview with the Washington Post, Rittenhouse revealed the gun he used in the shooting was purchased using money he received from an unemployment check during the coronavirus pandemic. Rittenhouse, 17, could not legally purchase the weapon himself, so he gave the money to a friend to buy it for him, according to both Rittenhouse and police reports.
"I got my $1,200 from the coronavirus Illinois unemployment, because I was on furlough from YMCA, and I got my first unemployment check so I was like, 'Oh I'll use this to buy it,'" he told the Post.
Prosecutors have charged a Wisconsin man with supplying the gun.
In his interview, Rittenhouse said he doesn't regret having a gun that night, saying "I had to protect myself."
"I would have died that night if I didn’t," he said.
