CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A 17-year-old from Antioch appears in court Friday morning in Lake County in a process that will determine whether he’ll be returned to Kenosha to face charges of murdering two protesters and wounding a third last month.
Kyle Rittenhouse is accused of shooting three men with an AR-15 last month. Friday will be the start of the court process to determine whether he’ll be returned to Wisconsin to face charges. He’s accused of murdering 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber, and wounding another man.
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Rittenhouse had been among a number of people who were taking it upon themselves to, in their view, protect people’s property during protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Rittenhouse’s lawyer said he fired in self-defense.
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It’s unclear whether he will waive extradition or fight being returned to Wisconsin to face charges.
According to the Tribune, if he fights extradition, those proceedings would turn on the questions of whether the warrant from Wisconsin is valid and whether he is actually the person accused of the crime. Numerous video clips show Rittenhouse at the scene, and one of his attorneys has acknowledged he shot the people, but argued he fired in self-defense.
Rittenhouse has been held without bail in Lake County’s juvenile detention facility since his arrest in Antioch last month. Kenosha County prosecutors have charged him with shooting three men with an AR-15-style rifle Aug. 25 violent protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake a couple of days earlier.
If convicted of murder as an adult, Rittenhouse could face a life sentence.