KENOSHA, Wis. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old from Illinois accused of killing two demonstrators and injuring a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin, spoke publicly in his first interview since he was arrested and revealed how the gun he used in the shootings was paid for.
In a phone interview with the Washington Post, Rittenhouse revealed the gun he used in the shooting was purchased using money he received from an unemployment check from the government during the coronavirus pandemic.
"I got my $1,200 from the coronavirus Illinois unemployment, because I was on furlough from YMCA, and I got my first unemployment check so I was like, 'Oh I'll use this to buy it,'" he told the Washington Post from a juvenile detention center, where he’s been held on $2 million cash bail since the August shootings.
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Rittenhouse, 17, could not legally purchase the assault weapon himself under Wisconsin law, so he gave his friend, Dominick Black, then 18, money to buy it for him, according to both Rittenhouse and police reports.
Online court records show prosecutors in Kenosha charged 19-year-old Dominick Black on Nov. 3 with two felony counts of supplying a dangerous weapon to a minor causing death. Black could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted on both counts.
The Kenosha News reported that a criminal complaint alleges Black asked his friend, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Illinois, to help him guard businesses in Kenosha from protesters the night of Aug. 25. Demonstrators converged on the city for several nights after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, who is Black, in the back seven times during a domestic dispute. The shooting left Blake paralyzed from the waist down.
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Black and Rittenhouse went to Black's stepfather's house to get an assault-style rifle that Rittenhouse could use that night, the complaint said. Wisconsin law prohibits minors from carrying or possessing firearms unless they're hunting.
The complaint alleges that Rittenhouse used the rifle to fatally shoot Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wound a third man, Gaige Grosskreutz. Rittenhouse has been charged with multiple counts, including intentional homicide and illegally possessing a gun. His attorneys contend he was acting in self-defense. The case has been a rallying point for conservatives upset with property destruction during protests across the country this year.
Police first met Black at the Rittenhouse family's apartment in Antioch, where he told them he had the rifle that Rittenhouse used in the trunk of his car and that he'd given Rittenhouse the weapon. Police recovered the rifle as well as another rifle Black carried during the protest from the car.
According to Antioch police reports, Black's stepfather said Black bought the gun for Rittenhouse in Ladysmith, Wisconsin, using Rittenhouse's money but put the gun in his own name.
Black told police that when they went to his stepfather's house he was concerned about Rittenhouse having the gun because he wasn't 18, but if he told Rittenhouse he couldn't have it, Rittenhouse “would have thrown a fit,” the reports said.
In his interview with the Washington Post, Rittenhouse said he did not regret that he had a gun that night.
“I feel I had to protect myself,” he said. “I would have died that night if I didn’t.”
In addition to the homicide charges, Rittenhouse faces counts of attempted homicide, reckless endangerment, and being a minor in possession of a firearm.
The Associated Press contributed to this copy.