Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen accused of fatally shooting two people during protests in Kenosha, Wis., has been released from jail on a $2 million bond.
His release at 2 p.m. Friday was confirmed by the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department. The bond was handled by his attorney, according to the Sheriff’s spokesman, Officer Sgt. David Wright.
Rittenhouse, 17, insists he was acting in self-defense on Aug. 25 when police say he killed protesters Anthony Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and wounded a third man.
The victims were protesting in the aftermath of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, 28. Blake had been seriously injured when he was shot in the back by police in August during a domestic disturbance in Kenosha.
Rittenhouse has been hit with intentional, reckless and attempted homicide charges along with felony reckless endangerment and possession of a weapon by a person under the age of 18.
The teen’s high bail was a reflection of the “incredibly serious” charges, his judge explained earlier this month.
“If a conviction occurs there would be a likelihood of an imposition of a mandatory life sentence or at least significant amounts of time, likely decades of a period of incarceration,” the judge said.
Rittenhouse has told a friend, co-defendant Dominick Black, 19, that he is convinced he will spend the rest of his life in prison for the shootings.
Black, of Kenosha, is charged with purchasing the AR-15-style rifle used in the shootings as a favor to Rittenhouse, who was one year too young to buy it himself.
In an interview Thursday, Rittenhouse told The Washington Post that he paid for the weapon, a Smith & Wesson M&P, using his $1,200 in coronavirus stimulus money.
Sources: NY Post; Image: TMJ4 Milwaukee
