“No, I don't regret it. I feel I had to protect myself,” said Rittenhouse during the interview. “I would have died that night if I didn't.”
The 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois is currently in jail for defending himself against three Antifa and Black Lives Matter militants during a riot in neighboring Kenosha. He shot all three of his attackers, killing two of them. (Related: Defending yourself against a convicted pedophile and sex offender makes you a racist “mass shooter,” according to Christian group The Gospel Coalition.)
He is potentially facing up to life in prison if he is convicted for multiple charges, including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide and attempted homicide in the first-degree. His bond was set at $2 million on Nov. 2. He is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 3.
During the interview, Rittenhouse said that he considers himself a patriot, and that he brought a gun to Kenosha because he believed he was going into a city where the Antifa and Black Lives Matter militants were also armed.
“I was going into a place where people had guns,” he said, “and God forbid somebody brought a gun to me and tried to shoot me. So, I like wanted to be protected and I ended up having to protect myself.”
Rittenhouse further explained that he traveled across state lines to protect local businesses from being looted. He claims that was what he was doing all night, along with providing first aid for people who had minor injuries.
In an interview with Fox 6 News, Rittenhouse's mother, Wendy, defended her son by saying that what was going on in Kenosha was not a peaceful demonstration.
“Going down there wasn't a protest,” she said. “It was a mob. If people were rioting, looting, destroying Kenosha, burning it down, that wasn't a peaceful protest.”
Rittenhouse's friend who bought him the firearm also being charged
Dominick David Black is Rittenhouse's 19-year-old friend who bought the gun that he would eventually use to defend himself against the Antifa and Black Lives Matter mob in Kenosha. Black is also being charged. On Nov. 3, he was slapped with two felony counts of intentionally providing a dangerous weapon to a minor.
His attorney attempted to get his charges dismissed, but the motion was denied. Black's bail was set at $2,500. The court commissioner also ordered him to not contact Rittenhouse.
According to Black's testimony, when he was still 18 he bought a gun at an ACE Hardware store in Ladysmith, Wisconsin. Later that day, Rittenhouse fired the weapon at Black's family property. Rittenhouse planned to have ownership of the firearm transferred to him next year when he turned 18.
The firearm was then stored in the home of Black's stepfather, in a locked safe in his garage, but he took it out of the safe following the violence that erupted in Kenosha after the shooting of Jacob Blake.
On the night Rittenhouse was attacked, Black took the rifle with him to Kenosha. He informed his stepfather that he was going there to help clean graffiti and to guard local businesses. Black's stepfather suggested he not go.
Black kept the firearm in the trunk of his car and turned it over to the police after Rittenhouse surrendered himself to law enforcement in Illinois.
During Rittenhouse's jailhouse interview, he revealed that Black was able to purchase the gun using coronavirus stimulus money.
“I got my $1,200 from the coronavirus Illinois unemployment because I was on furlough from the YMCA, and I got my first unemployment check so I was like, ‘Oh, I'll use this to buy it.’”
Learn more about how Americans are fighting back against Antifa and Black Lives Matter looters and rioters by reading the latest articles at Violence.news.
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