Extradition hearing for accused Kenosha shooter delayed
An extradition hearing for 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, charged with killing two people during protests in Kenosha, was delayed.
The decision on whether or not the Illinois teenager charged with fatally shooting two protesters and wounding a third in Kenosha should be returned to Wisconsin to face charges has been delayed until Sept. 25, officials said Friday.
An Illinois judge agreed to postpone Kyle Rittenhouse's extradition hearing during a brief meeting that was streamed online. Rittenhouse faces five felony charges, including first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide, and a misdemeanor charge for possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor.
Rittenhouse did not appear in the live-streamed hearing, where his attorney Jennifer Snyder, an assistant public defender in Lake County, Ill., asked for the delay. The judge said Rittenhouse had been permitted to speak by phone with his mother and was in the process of hiring an attorney.
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Rittenhouse, a White teen who was armed with a semi-automatic rifle as he walked Kenosha's streets with other armed civilians during this week's protests, would face a mandatory life sentence if convicted of first-degree intentional homicide. Under Wisconsin law, anyone 17 or older is treated as an adult in the criminal justice system.
He was taken into custody on Wednesday in Antioch, Ill., the city about 15 miles from Kenosha where he lives.
Rittenhouse was armed and on the streets of Kenosha, saying that he was protecting businesses from protesters, according to widely circulating cellphone footage. The shootings late Tuesday were largely caught on cellphone video and posted online.
According to the criminal complaint, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, of Kenosha, followed Rittenhouse into a used car lot, where he threw a plastic bag at the teen and attempted to take the weapon from him. The medical examiner found that Rosenbaum was shot in the groin and back -- which fractured his pelvis and perforated his right lung and liver -- and his left hand. He also suffered a superficial wound to his left thigh and a graze wound to his forehead, the examiner said.
Kyle Rittenhouse, left, with backwards cap, walks along Sheridan Road in Kenosha, Wis., on Tuesday with another armed civilian. (Adam Rogan/The Journal Times via AP)
Rittenhouse then ran down the street and was chased by several people shouting that he just shot someone before he tripped and fell, according to the complaint and video footage. Anthony Huber, 26, of Silver Lake, was shot in the chest after apparently trying to wrest the gun from Rittenhouse, the complaint said.
Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, who appeared to be holding a gun, was then shot in the left arm after approaching Rittenhouse, according to the complaint.
Rittenhouse’s attorney, Lin Wood, said Thursday that the teenager was acting in self-defense.
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“From my standpoint, it’s important that the message be clear to other Americans who are attacked that there will be legal resources available in the event false charges are brought against them,” he said. “Americans should never be deterred from exercising their right of self-defense.”
The fatal shootings occurred during unrest in the wake of the police-involved shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black father of six who was left partially paralyzed, his family said this week.
That shooting made Kenosha the latest focal point in the fight against racial injustice that has gripped the country since the May 25 death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.
In this September 2019 selfie photo taken in Evanston, Ill., Adria-Joi Watkins poses with her second cousin Jacob Blake. (Courtesy Adria-Joi Watkins via AP)
The state Department of Justice on Friday released new information, including the names of two other officers on the scene when Blake was shot Sunday, as seen in moments captured on cellphone footage.
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State authorities earlier identified the officer who allegedly shot Blake as Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year veteran of the Kenosha Police Department. The other two officers at the scene were Vincent Arenas, who has been with the department since February 2019 and previously served with the U.S. Capitol Police Department, and Brittany Meronek, who joined the Kenosha police force in January.
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Authorities said the officers were responding to a call about a domestic dispute when they attempted to arrest Blake, though they didn’t explain why. Sheskey allegedly shot Blake while holding onto his shirt after he and Arenas unsuccessfully used Tasers on him twice, the department said in a Friday news release. State agents later recovered a knife from the floor on the driver’s side of the vehicle, the department said. State authorities did not say Blake threatened anyone with a knife.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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