A ‘police-obsessed’ teenager charged with killing two protesters at a Black Lives Matter rally was previously photographed in the front row of a Donald Trump rally.
Jacob Rittenhouse, 17, was snapped up-front at a Trump rally in Des Moines, Iowa, in January – seven months before he allegedly shot Anthony Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, dead during Tuesday night’s protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse was charged with murder on Wednesday over allegations he shot Gruber and Rosenbaum dead with an AR-15, with the teenager declaring himself a pro-police fan of the ‘Blue Lives Matter’ movement on his Facebook page.
The alleged killer proudly shared photos of himself dressed in a police-style uniform after taking part in a youth safety cadet program.
Rittenhouse was interviewed shortly before Tuesday’s killings, and claimed to have traveled from his home in Illinois to Kenosha to help ‘de-escalate’ ongoing protests triggered by a cop shooting black local Jacob Blake, 29. on Sunday.
Blake’s alleged shooter has since been named as police officer Rusten Sheskey, with Sheskey put on administrative leave pending an investigation into the incident, which left Blake paralyzed from the waist down.
The alleged killer – who was a year below the minimum age at which people can openly carry a weapon – appeared to brag about his vigilanteism, telling a reporter: ‘People are getting injured.
‘Our job is to protect this business and part of my job is to also help people.’
‘If there’s somebody hurt, I’m running into harm’s way.’
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After the shootings, Rittenhouse was photographed walking towards a police truck with his arms raised into the air.
He was allowed to leave the scene, and was arrested at his home in Antioch, Illinois, later on Wednesday.
Rittenhouse will be extradited to Wisconsin in the coming days.
Asked about why Rittenhouse was allowed to leave the scene, Kenosha Sheriff David Beth told a press conference Wednesday that law enforcement officers would have been concentrating their efforts on people deemed to be causing trouble, rather than someone who appeared to be leaving the scene of the riots peacefully.
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