17-Year-Old Kyle Rittenhouse Arrested for Homicide as Unrest in Kenosha Continues

KENOSHA, KOMPAS.com  A white, 17-year-old police admirer Kyle Rittenhouse was arrested in Kenosha Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide.

Kyle Rittenhouse is suspected to have shot two people to death as unrest in Kenosha continues into its third straight night of protests.

The uprising came in the wake of the latest police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake.

Read also: Wisconsin Police Shooting of Jacob Blake Triggers Unrest in Kenosha

Rittenhouse, an Antioch, Illinois resident, carried out the attack on Tuesday that was largely captured on cellphone video.

The shooting involving the 17-year-old left a third person wounded.

“I just killed somebody,” the gunman, carrying a semi-automatic rifle, could be heard saying at one point.

In the wake of the killings, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers authorized the deployment of 500 members of the National Guard to Kenosha, doubling the number of troops in the city of 100,000 midway between Milwaukee and Chicago.

The governor's office said he is working with other states to bring in additional National Guard members and law officers. Authorities also announced a 7pm curfew, though protesters ignored it again Wednesday.

Protesters marched past the intersection where two people were shot Tuesday night, stopping to gather around the spot where one person was shot, and to pray and lay flowers.

Daijon Spann said he decided to join the demonstration because one of those killed the night before was a friend.

“I couldn’t take it anymore,” he said. “I couldn’t just sit there and watch my friend die.”

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Evers, a Democrat, issued a statement asking those who wanted to exercise their First Amendment rights to “please do so peacefully and safely” and urging others to "please stay home and let local first responders, law enforcement and members of the Wisconsin National Guard do their jobs.”

“A senseless tragedy like this cannot happen again,” Evers said.

As of early Thursday, the protests were mostly peaceful, in contrast to the violent clashes that marked earlier nights of protests.

There were no groups patrolling with long guns as they had on previous nights, and protesters stayed away from a courthouse that had been the site of standoffs with law enforcement.

In Washington, the Justice Department said it is sending in more than 200 federal agents from the FBI, US Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The White House said up to 2,000 National Guard troops would be made available.

Read also: William Barr Defends Aggressive Response of Federal Agents to Curb Protests

The dead were identified only as a 26-year-old Silver Lake, Wisconsin, resident and a 36-year-old from Kenosha.

The wounded person, a 36-year-old from West Allis, Wisconsin, was expected to survive, police said.