KENOSHA, Delete. (AP) – An 18-year-old Illinois teenager charged with fatally shooting two people at a protest in southeast Wisconsin last year is prohibited from dealing with known white supremacists under a judge’s recently amended bail conditions.
Kyle Rittenhouse was 17 at the Aug. 25 rally in Kenosha, Wisconsin, while hundreds protested the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man. Rittenhouse has been charged with multiple charges, including reckless and willful murder, threats and minority in possession of a firearm.
Prosecutors allege that Rittenhouse, who is white, left his home in Antioch, Illinois and traveled to Kenosha to answer a call for militias to protect companies. Kenosha was in the throes of several nights of chaotic street demonstrations after a white officer shot Blake in the back during a domestic turmoil, which left Blake paralyzed.
Rittenhouse opened fire with an assault rifle during the protest, killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and injuring Gaige Grosskreutz, authorities said. Rittenhouse has pleaded not to be guilty on all counts, arguing that he fired in self-defense. Conservatives have rallied around him and generated enough money to earn his $ 2 million cash bail.
According to online court records, a Wisconsin judge amended Rittenhouse’s release conditions on Friday to note that Rittenhouse “will not knowingly engage in behavior with any person or group of individuals known to harm, threaten, harass or threaten others on based on their race, beliefs on the subject of religion, color, nationality or gender. “
He is also prohibited from possessing and consuming alcohol and having firearms.
Prosecutors had filed for the changes after Rittenhouse was seen drinking earlier this month at a bar in the town of Mount Pleasant in southeastern Wisconsin, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Milwaukee. The legal drinking age is 21, but in Wisconsin, Rittenhouse could legally drink alcohol because he was with his mother.
According to WMTV, prosecutors wrote in their request that Rittenhouse also posed for a photo outside Pudgy’s Pub with two men making the “OK” sign with their hands, a symbol used by white supremacists. Prosecutors also alleged that five men serenaded the Rittenhouse tavern with a song that has become the anthem of the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist group.