Accused Kenosha Killer Kyle Rittenhouse’s Bail Set At $2 Million by Wisconsin Court

A Wisconsin court on Monday set bail for Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old vigilante accused of the fatal shooting of two demonstrators at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, at $2 million, disregarding pleas from one of the victim’s fathers to set the bail for double the amount.

Prosecutors in Kenosha county have charged Rittenhouse with fatally shooting Anthony M. Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum and wounding another man, Gaige Grosskreutz, during a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 25.

Rittenhouse turned himself in at a local police station in Antioch the morning after the shootings, where he apparently admitted to shooting protesters, according to records from the Antioch Police Department. He was with his mother when he walked into the police station before 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 26, reports The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“I shot two white kids,” the teen vigilante said, adding that he had “ended a man’s life.”

The resident of Antioch, Illinois, faces one count of first degree intentional homicide, one count of first-degree reckless homicide, one count of attempt at first-degree intentional homicide, two counts of first degree recklessly endangering safety, and one count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18.

If he is convicted on the intentional homicide charge, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

Rittenhouse is accused of carrying out the shootings after teaming up with a group of armed adult volunteers who came to the city to allegedly protect private property from demonstrators protesting the Aug. 23 police shooting of Blake, a 29-year-old man who was left paralyzed by the shooting.

He also informed police that the firearm he had used in the killings was being held in the trunk of a friend’s car that was parked at outside his family residence in Antioch.

Rittenhouse’s attorneys claim that their client feared death or bodily harm and acted in self-defense when he fired his AR-15 on demonstrators that night, killing two people and wounding another. They claim that the charges are politically motivated and that the extradition violates the accused killer’s constitutional rights.

Rittenhouse was a militant supporter of the police, who frequently posted “Blue Lives Matter” memes and other material supportive of law enforcement to his social media.

In the Monday hearing, Rittenhouse’s attorney Mark Richards requested that Court Commissioner Loren Keating set bail at $750,000 and place Rittenhouse on electronic monitoring. Prosecutors requested that Keating set bail at $2 million, claiming that Rittenhouse would flee if given the chance.

John Huber, whose son Anthony was among those killed, emphatically appealed to the judge to go far higher than the $2 million sought by the state.