A white supremacist accused of a double murder in Kenosha, Wisconsin was allowed to remain free after continuing what seemed like a white supremacist promotional tour earlier this month. Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, was "serenaded" with an anthem from the white supremacist hate group, Proud Boys, after he apparently thought an arraignment was something worth celebrating at a bar with his mother on Jan. 5, 2021, The Associated Press reported. He wore a shirt that read “free as f---” and posed outside of Pudgy’s Pub for a photo using the OK signal, which is also embraced as a white supremacist symbol.
His ode to hate in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin prompted the Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office to file a motion on Wednesday to bar Rittenhouse from again using white power symbols, associating with known white supremacists, or drinking alcohol while under 21-years-old—which I could’ve sworn was already a thing. Rittenhouse is accused of shooting and killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and injuring Gaige Grosskreutz at a Black Lives Matter rally on Aug. 25, 2020.
Protesters were demonstrating for justice after Rusten Sheskey, a white, since-fired cop, shot Jacob Blake, a Black father, seven times at point-blank range, paralyzing him in front of his children two days earlier. Protest efforts were met with threats from armed men including Rittenhouse, who flew from Antioch, Illinois to respond to an alleged militia’s call to protect local businesses, according to USA Today. “We don’t have non-lethal,” Rittenhouse said in a video ABC News obtained. He also identified himself in the video as “Kyle” and asked law enforcement agents at the protest for water.
“We appreciate you guys. We really do,” one officer was seen telling Rittenhouse and other vigilantes about 15 minutes before gunfire sounded at the protest. Rittenhouse was seen in the video making a phone call, standing by one of the shooting victims, and running with a rifle. “I shot somebody,” someone was heard saying in the same video. Rittenhouse, charged in a double murder, however, was still allowed a $2 million bond and freed from jail.
A Wisconsin judge modified conditions of Rittenhouse’s release on Friday to indicate he “shall not knowingly have conduct with any person or group of persons known to harm, threaten, harass or menace others on the basis of their race, beliefs on the subject of religion, color, national origin, or gender," according to court records USA Today obtained.
At one point in the case against him, Rittenhouse used the same attorney who represented former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Attorney John Pierce regarded the accused killer as part of a “well regulated militia” before later deciding to back out of the criminal case and only represent Rittenhouse in any civil litigation. Pierce actually alluded to “future defamation claims” Rittenhouse may pursue in an ABC News interview.