Gun Used By Kyle Rittenhouse To Be Destroyed After Request From Shooter

Today (January 28), assistant district attorney Thomas Binger said that the state crime lab would look to destroy the gun in April.

The motion was then agreed by Judge Bruce Schroeder, who was the Kenosha County judge presiding over the Rittenhouse trail.

The 19-year-old's wanted the gun back and his lawyer filed a motion to return all the items his client was in possession of on the night of the shooting, including Rittenhouse’s rifle, ammunition, face mask and any additional clothing.

A spokesman for Rittenhouse said last week that the 19-year-old wanted to destroy the rifle so it could not be used as a political symbol or trophy celebrating the shootings.

The rest of Rittenhouse’s property has now been returned to him, Binger told the judge.

The judge also ordered the $2 million (£1.49m) bail fund raised for Rittenhouse be divided between his attorney, a foundation that solicited donations for his defence, and the actor Ricky Schroder who donated to Rittenhouse's defence.

Rittenhouse shot three men during the protest in Kenosha in 2020.

He killed Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz in the arm. 

Rittenhouse argued he fired in self-defence after each of the men attacked him. A jury last year acquitted him of multiple charges, including homicide.

Conservatives across the nation have praised Rittenhouse, saying he was defending Kenosha from far-left militants. Liberals have painted him as a trigger-happy vigilante.

Demonstrators took to the streets of Kenosha in August 2020 after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, a black man, in the back as Mr Blake was resisting arrest during a domestic disturbance.

The shooting left Mr Blake paralysed from the waist down.

Rittenhouse and his friend Dominick Black joined a group of militia members to protect a used car lot on the night of 25 August 2020.

Rittenhouse, who was 17 at time and living in Antioch, Illinois, was armed with an AR-15-style rifle that Black had purchased for him earlier that year because he was too young to buy a firearm under Wisconsin law.