The 18-year-old Illinois resident is a free man after a Wisconsin jury found him not guilty Friday on all charges after shooting three people (killing two) in self-defense at a Black Lives Matter riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020.
If you ask U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Dorchester), however, she might say something different.
Rittenhouse was charged with reckless homicide in the death of Joseph Rosenbaum, intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber, and attempted intentional homicide for wounding Gaige Grosskreutz. He was acquitted on all of those charges Friday, November 19. Rosenbaum previously spent 15 years in prison for sexually abusing five pre-teen boys.
The trial established that Rittenhouse was chased and shot by the people he attacked. During the trial, Rittenhouse said that he wanted to be either a police officer or paramedic when he is older and that he went to Kenosha to provide medical aid to the people present.
However, that’s not how Pressley portrayed him last year — and she hasn’t walked back the claim yet.
Pressley attacked the media for their coverage of the topic in the wake of the issue last year, calling him a white supremacist and a domestic terrorist
“A 17 year old white supremacist domestic terrorist drove across state lines, armed with an AR 15,” Pressley tweeted. “He shot and killed 2 people who had assembled to affirm the value, dignity, and worth of Black lives. Fix your damn headlines.”
The FBI defines domestic terrorism as “Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.”
The Black Lives Matter protesters committed $2 million in property damage to city-owned property and up to $50 million to private property in the riot.
The protests happened after a police officer in Kenosha shot and wounded Jacob Blake, a black man who had an arrest warrant for third-degree sexual assault, trespassing, and disorderly conduct related to domestic abuse, according to National Review.
Wisconsin defines third-degree sexual assault as “Sexual intercourse with a person without consent of that person, or Sexual contact with intentional penile ejaculation with a person without consent of that person.”
Pressley also doubled down on her disdain for Rittenhouse in a tweet on Friday, November 19 after the verdict.
“Racism & white supremacy remain the bedrock of our legal system,” Pressley tweeted. “My heart breaks for the family & loved ones of those whose lives were stolen, and the trauma our communities face today and every day. The struggle for accountability, for justice, for healing goes on.”
Pressley never issued a comment on Blake’s alleged sexual assault
The press office for Pressley could not be reached for comment on Friday or over the weekend about her calling Kyle Rittenhouse a “white supremacist domestic terrorist.”
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