WASHINGTON – The 17-year-old right-wing extremist charged with shooting two people dead at a Black Lives Matter protest in the Midwestern US state of Wisconsin earlier this year was released after posting US$2 million (RM8.2 million) bail, one of his lawyers tweeted yesterday.
Kyle Rittenhouse “is out of jail”, Lin Wood said, adding special thanks to actor Ricky Schroder and My Pillow chief executive Mike Lindell, an ally of US President Donald Trump, for contributions which put them “over the top”.
Video footage shows a white man alleged to be Rittenhouse shooting dead the two protesters, named by The New York Times as Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August. He badly wounded one other man.
Rittenhouse, described as being an enthusiast of right-wing militant groups in the US, reportedly went to the city to protect it from “rioters” during days of demonstrations against police brutality.
The protests had erupted after a black man, Jacob Blake, was shot multiple times in the back by a white officer at point-blank range, as his three young sons watched.
Blake survived, but doctors have said he may never walk again.
Blake's shooting came three months after the police killing of another African American, George Floyd, ignited the largest wave of civil unrest in the US in decades.
Protests in Kenosha began peacefully the night Blake was shot but descended into violence for several nights running.
It culminated August 25, when Rittenhouse is accused of taking his rifle to the streets.
Trump, who has a long history of readiness to court right-wing extremism, has expressed sympathy for Rittenhouse and called the allegations against him “an interesting situation”. – AFP, November 21, 2020
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