Kenosha Killer Kyle Rittenhouse Says He Purchased His AR-15 With His Stimulus Check

17-year-old Kenosha killer Kyle Rittenhouse reportedly used his pandemic stimulus check to buy the AR-15 that he used to shoot multiple people at a protest earlier this year.

Rittenhouse was too young to buy the weapon in the state of Wisconsin, so he gave the money to his friend, Dominick Black, who was 18-years-old at the time and old enough to buy a gun. Rittenhouse admitted in an interview with the Washington Post that he used money from his stimulus check to purchase the rifle, and also admitted that he bought it for the specific purpose of taking it to the protests.

“I got my $1,200 from the coronavirus Illinois unemployment ’cause 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,‘” Rittenhouse told the Washington Post.

Black is now charged with two felony counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor resulting in death. Black admitted to police that he bought Rittenhouse the Smith & Wesson M&P rifle because he wasn’t old enough to get one himself. Black was still the legal owner of the gun, but the two had agreed to transfer the gun ownership to Rittenhouse when he reached his 18th birthday.

In the Washington Post interview that Rittenhouse gave from behind bars, he continued to maintain that he acted in self defense.

“I was going to a place were people had guns and God forbid somebody brought a gun to me and decided to shoot me. I wanted to be protected which I ended up having to protect myself,” Rittenhouse said.

Rittenhouse has been charged with killing 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber, as well as injuring 22-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz.

He is facing charges of first-degree intentional homicide, which carries a sentence of life in prison. He is also charged with attempted intentional homicide and he was also given a misdemeanor charge for underage firearm possession.

Rittenhouse had traveled to the protests with a militia group that organized online and claimed to be assisting police and protecting private property during the demonstrations. The details of exactly what happened are still being investigated and debated, but at some point during the protest, Rittenhouse shot a protester multiple times.

Rittenhouse then began to try to get away from the area, but protesters who witnessed the shooting chased after him and tried to stop him. When the group caught up with Rittenhouse, another person was shot and killed after a short scuffle. After that, Rittenhouse was able to walk right past the police and leave the city. In one of the videos taken by witnesses, Rittenhouse can be heard saying “I just killed somebody.”

Earlier this month, a judge set Rittenhouse’s bail at $2 million. Kenosha County court commissioner Loren Keating argued in court that Rittenhouse poses a serious flight risk, considering that he lives in a different state. The judge agreed and also said that since the charges against Rittenhouse are so serious, with the possibility of a life sentence, he would have a “reasonable basis to flee.”