Police detained a 17-year-old white teenager on suspicion of a shooting that killed two people in the American city of Kenosha (Wisconsin), engulfed in racially motivated riots.He was charged with premeditated murder.The young man is known as a supporter of Donald Trump, and also supports the Blue Lives Matter police movement.
Kyle Rittenhouse
A young suspect named Kyle Rittenhouse was arrested in the neighboring Wisconsin state of Illinois.According to local authorities, the teenager “fled from Wisconsin in an attempt to escape from justice.”
The young man is currently in custody in Lake County, northeastern Illinois, awaiting his transfer to the Wisconsin authorities.
Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis calls the incident “senseless violence”, adding that the cause of the deadly shooting is still unknown.
“This case is still under active investigation,” says Miskinis.“We have a person in out-of-state custody…….I cannot tell you exactly what led to the use of the deadly violence, or whether both deaths were associated with the same suspect. ”
We will remind, on the night of Wednesday, August 26, the protesters ignored the curfew imposed by the authorities of the city of Kenosha and gathered at the courthouse and in a nearby park.To disperse the protesters, law enforcement officers wearing helmets and body armor used rubber bullets, tear gas and flash grenades.Against the background of the riots, groups of armed people spontaneously emerged, patrolling the streets and protecting their property from marauders.
According to local police, as a result of the shooting in one of the districts of the city, two people were killed, and the third was taken to hospital “with serious, but not life-threatening wounds.”
One of the victims was wounded in the head, the other in the chest, NBC News reports.According to eyewitness accounts, the police did not react to the demands of residents to arrest a young white man who opened fire in the middle of the street.
According to The Guardian, a few hours before this incident, members of the local militia group Kenosha Guard published a post on Facebook in which they wrote: “Are there patriots who are ready to take arms and protect our city from evil thugs tonight?”
It is unclear if Kyle Rittenhouse was among the people who responded to these calls.However, on his social network account, access to which is temporarily restricted, were posted photographs in which he was captured holding a semi-automatic rifle.
Moreover, according to some publications of the teenager, it became clear that he is a supporter of the American leader Donald Trump and expresses support for the pro-police movement Blue Lives Matter (it contains a hint of the blue or blue color of the police uniform, in other words, “Police lives matter” – “MK” ), which is created as a counterbalance to the anti-racist Black Lives Matter (“Black lives matter” – “MK”).
In turn, representatives of Facebook said that so far they have not found any evidence that Rittenhouse was following a group of militias, or that he was invited to the page of an event organized by her the other day, urging citizens to arm and protect themselves and their property.
Some time later, the management of the social network removed the Kenosha Guard page for violating its new policy on violent organizations and movements.
Later, the founder of the group, 36-year-old Kevin Mathewson, said that the 17-year-old “had no right to be armed legally and ethically”, but at the same time he should “be held accountable for his own actions.”
Another spike in protests in the United States came after another incident of police shooting at an African American in Wisconsin on Sunday, August 23.African-American Jacob Blake was injured.Now his condition is assessed as serious.The man received gunshot wounds to the stomach, his liver, kidneys and arm were also damaged.In addition, the bullets shattered several of the man’s vertebrae, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
The circumstances of the incident are still being clarified.It is only known that police officers arrived on a domestic violence call to the house of a 29-year-old father of six children who worked as a private security guard.Blake’s lawyers say he tried to stop an altercation between the two women.Who they were the victim, who called the police and what happened before the incident itself is not yet clear.
In response to the riots, US President Donald Trump ordered federal paramilitary units to be sent to the city of Kenosha to restore order.
“Today I will send federal law enforcement and the National Guard to Kenosha to restore law and order,” the US president wrote on Twitter.
In the next post, he added: “We will not tolerate looting, arson, violence, and lawlessness on the American streets.My team just spoke on the phone with Governor (Wisconsin) Evers, who agreed to accept federal aid. ”
