Kyle Rittenhouse’s Mother Says ‘No One Should Have Been’ in Kenosha

Lorenz Duchamps
By Lorenz Duchamps
November 10, 2020US News
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Kyle Rittenhouse’s Mother Says ‘No One Should Have Been’ in Kenosha
Wendy Rittenhouse, mother of teen suspect in fatal Kenosha shooting Kyle Rittenhouse, speaks with Chicago Tribune reporters in Chicago, Ill., on Nov. 5, 2020. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune via AP)

The mother of a 17-year-old teenager facing a first-degree intentional homicide charge said her son should not have been in Kenosha, Wisconsin, as she casts the blame on authorities who failed to protect the city.

“No one should have been there,” Wendy Rittenhouse, the mother of Illinois teen Kyle Rittenhouse, told the Chicago Tribune. “The protesters should not have been there, also. My son shouldn’t have been there either.”

Wendy, a single mother of three and an assistant nurse, worked a double shift the night her son fatally shot two people and injured a third person during a protest over perceived police violence late in August.

She said she would have prevented her son from attending the protest with an assault rifle he obtained from a friend if she knew where her son was that night and what he was doing.

Wendy and her son’s attorney, John Pierce, have repeatedly defended Rittenhouse, saying he was a scared teenager that acted out of self-defense when he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and left Gaige Grosskreutz, 22, wounded.

Police Shooting Wisconsin
Defense Attorney John Pierce speaks during an extradition hearing for Kyle Rittenhouse in Lake County court in Waukegan, Ill., on Oct. 30, 2020. (Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo, Pool)

She also previously said her son felt he had to protect the businesses in Kenosha after protests led to widespread looting in the city following the police-involved shooting of Jacob Blake.

Blake was shot multiple times in the back on Aug. 23 after a female caller reported that her boyfriend was present and was not supposed to be on the premises.

He is accused of trying to kidnap a child when he attempted to enter a vehicle after resisting arrest, according to the police officer who shot him. His family says he is paralyzed from the waist down.

“It’s a tragedy what happened to Mr. Blake. It is,” Wendy told the Tribune. “But my son and everybody else should not have been in Kenosha.”

“The police should have helped the businesses out instead of having a 17-year-old kid helping him,” she continued. “The police should have been involved with these people that lost their businesses. They should have stepped up.”

Wendy stressed that she understands the pressure the police are under and said Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, should have deployed reinforcements.

A Kenosha County court commissioner determined that Rittenhouse would be a flight risk if he was released from jail and ordered his bail to remain at $2 million.

NTD Photo
Kyle Rittenhouse sits while listening during an extradition hearing in Lake County court in Waukegan, Ill., on Oct. 30, 2020. (Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo, Pool)

Wendy dismissed the judge’s allegations and any suggestions that her son could flee, saying, “I have $1.20 in my bank account. You think I can get on a plane?”

Rittenhouse’s attorney said his client went to Kenosha to help remove graffiti from a school. It was after they arrived that they offered to help protect a car dealership that had come under attack by looters the night before.

Dominic Black, an 18-year-old friend of Rittenhouse, told authorities that he purchased the weapon at a hardware store in Wisconsin. On Monday, a court commissioner set Black’s bail at $2,500 on felony charges that he supplied a dangerous weapon to a minor, causing death.

According to police reports, Black told investigators that Wendy had been planning to apply for a firearm owner’s identification card in Illinois so they could legally keep the weapon in Antioch.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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