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The 17-year-old Illinois resident who was charged with shooting and killing two people and injuring another in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during protests for Jacob Blake appeared in the front row at a Donald Trump rally in January, reports BuzzFeed News.
Kyle Howard Rittenhouse’s social media accounts are filled with photos of him posing with weapons, posting “Blue Lives Matter,” and supporting Donald Trump for president.
Footage from the Des Moines, Iowa, rally on Jan. 30 shows the teen standing in the front row, to the left of the podium. He posted a TikTok video from the event.
Rittenhouse was arrested Wednesday in connection with shooting three protesters — two of whom have died — in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday night, The New York Times reported.
The teenager, who was armed with an AR-15, is from Antioch, Illinois, and drove across state lines to stand guard outside businesses during unrest stemming from the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who is now paralyzed as a result.
He was taken into custody and will be charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
Wednesday’s arrest record from Antioch Police said that Rittenhouse “fled the state of Wisconsin with the intent to avoid prosecution for the offense.”
“A close look at his social media accounts and background show a teenager obsessed with law enforcement who also identified as a strong supporter of President Donald Trump and ‘Blue Lives Matter,’ a pro–law enforcement movement that evolved in response to Black Lives Matter,” reports Buzzfeed. “His connections to law enforcement, however, go beyond his vocal support of police on social media. In a statement to BuzzFeed News on Wednesday, the Grayslake Police Department confirmed that Rittenhouse was a former member of the Lindenhurst, Grayslake, Hainesville Police Department’s Public Safety Cadet Program.”
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