Prosecutors have charged a 17-year-old from Illinois in the fatal shooting of two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and the wounding of a third.
Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley filed the charges against Kyle Rittenhouse Thursday afternoon. The charges include one count of first-degree intentional homicide; one count of first-degree reckless homicide; one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide; two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment.
All those charges are felonies. He could face a mandatory life sentence if convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, the most serious crime in Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse was arrested in Antioch, Illinois Wednesday and charged with first-degree intentional homicide. He turned himself in at the Antioch police headquarters, according to police.
Prosecutors say Rittenhouse opened fire with a long gun on a crowd of protesters Tuesday night near Civic Center Park in Kenosha.
One victim was injured and is recovering in the hospital. The other two were pronounced dead from bullet wounds.
Rittenhouse remains in custody of the Lake County Judicial System awaiting extradition to Wisconsin.
Shortly before midnight Tuesday, cell phone video from Twitter user ‘LivesMatterShow’ captured the gunfire that erupted in a car lot near 63rd and Sheridan. Jhalin Goodlow said he witnessed the shooting while working security across the street.
“Once I heard gunshots, I booked it because I wasn’t armed,” he said. “I didn’t have no protection.”
While Goodlow was taking cover, he heard more shots on the street in front of him.
Cell phone video that was posted to social media by ‘BGOnTheScene’ shows a man who was armed with a rifle get up off the ground and shoot two people less than 10 feet away from him.
“This not the action of those I believe who set out to do protests, it is the people who were involved after the legal timing involved in illegal activity that brought violence to this community,” Kenosha Police Chief Miskinis said on Wednesday.
Law enforced officials were questioned Wednesday about the events that occurred after the shooting. Cell phone video shows the gunman walked over to officers with his hands in the air. Police are seen in the video moving past him to tend to the victims.
“There’s screaming, there’s hollering, there’s a squad car running there’s bearcats idling and if the officer happened to be in the car, the radio traffic was nonstop,” explained Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth.
Kenosha County Sheriff Beth believes the suspect was with a group of armed people who claimed to have come to Kenosha to protect businesses and homes from looting and fires. Mayor John Antaramian said their presence isn’t wanted in Kenosha.
“I don’t need more guns on the street in the community when we are trying to keep people safe,” he said. “Law enforcement is trained. They’re the ones responsible.
Chief Miskinis said a 36-year-old person from Kenosha and a 26-year-old person from Silver Lake died in the shooting. Their names haven’t been officially released.
This article was written by WTMJ.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
