HARVARD, Ill. (WBBM Newsradio) – Three men, including the Wisconsin man who authorities say supplied the rifle used by Kyle Rittenhouse in the fatal 2020 Kenosha shootings, were arrested following an armed robbery in McHenry County and a police pursuit that ended in Wisconsin, authorities said.
Harvard police officers were dispatched around 1:42 a.m. Thursday to the area of Route 14 and North Garfield Street for a report of an armed robbery that had just occurred. Investigators said two Janesville, Wisconsin, residents – a 32-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman – had been selling jewelry through Facebook Marketplace and arranged to meet the buyers near Harvard High School, in the 1100 block of North Jefferson Street.
According to police, the suspects displayed a rifle during the transaction, stole the jewelry and fled north into Wisconsin. The victims briefly pursued the vehicle but lost sight of it after crossing state lines.
The Walworth County Sheriff’s Office later located the suspect vehicle, which fled from deputies. A pursuit continued into Racine County, where spike strips were deployed with assistance from the Racine County Sheriff’s Office, police said. The vehicle was disabled and three suspects were taken into custody without incident. Authorities said the stolen jewelry and the rifle were recovered inside the vehicle.
The suspects were identified as Dominick D. Black, 24, Blair W. Stiles II, 19, and Solomon A. Bankhead, 25, all of Kenosha, Wisconsin. The McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office approved one count of armed robbery — a Class X felony — against each suspect. All three were being held in the Walworth County Jail awaiting extradition to Illinois, police said.
Black was arrested in 2020 after authorities said he purchased and supplied the rifle used by Kyle Rittenhouse, then 17, when Rittenhouse fatally shot two men and wounded a third during civil unrest in Kenosha following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Authorities also said Black drove Rittenhouse back to Antioch, Illinois, after the shootings.
Police said the investigation remains ongoing and additional charges are possible in McHenry County and Wisconsin.