Emboldened after acquittal, Rittenhouse says self-defense ‘not illegal’
Emboldened after being acquitted of murder, Kyle Rittenhouse says self-defense is “not illegal,” following a polarizing verdict that civil rights advocates say will engender more vigilante violence in the United States.
Rittenhouse was cleared on Friday of all charges stemming from shooting two people to death and wounding another during protests against police brutality and racial injustice in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year.
The verdict has reignited the debate about racial discrimination and injustices inherent in the US judicial system.
In comments that landed in an atmosphere of controversy and condemnation, Rittenhouse told Fox News in an interview that he is “not a racist person” and acted only in self-defense.
"The jury reached the correct verdict," he said. "Self-defense is not illegal."
“This case has nothing to do with race,” Rittenhouse said in the interview, excerpts of which were released by the network. “It never had anything to do with race. It had to do with the right to self-defense.”
The interview will air in full on Fox News on Monday night.
The trial of Rittenhouse, the most closely-watched case since the acquittal of George Zimmerman over the fatal shooting of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin in 2013, became a flashpoint on the most divisive issues in the US: the right to bear arms, police brutality, racial injustice and the rise of armed militias.
The case drew national attention from the outset, in part because it arose from the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that swept the United States last year.
Rittenhouse said, “I’m not a racist person. I support the [Black Lives Matter] movement, I support peacefully demonstrating.”
Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, had traveled 20 miles from his home in Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha, amid the unrest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who became paralyzed after an officer shot him in the back several times.
Armed with an AR-15-style rifle, which he had bought illegally from a friend, he joined a group of others who claimed they were intent on protecting private property.
During the trial, prosecutors accused the teenager of provoking the whole episode by brandishing his weapon and provoking some protesters. Rittenhouse and his lawyers countered that he fired his semi-automatic rifle in self-defense.
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