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Kyle Rittenhouse cashed a coronavirus stimulus check to purchase the semi-automatic pistol he will later use to fatally shoot two men in Kenosha, the accused double killer has said.
In a telephone interview with the Washington Post, published Thursday, the jailed Rittenhouse also said he acted in self-defense and does not regret arming himself that fateful night in August as protesters marched after of the shooting of Jacob Blake by the police.
The 17-year-old, who had worked as a YMCA lifeguard, was arrested at his home in Antioch, Ill., A day after the fatal August 25 shooting of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber , 26 years.
“I got my $ 1,200 from Illinois coronavirus unemployment because I was on YMCA leave and got my first unemployment check, so I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to use this to buy it, ”Rittenhouse said in his first prison interview.
He wasn’t old enough to buy the gun himself, so he allegedly asked a friend in Kenosha to buy the AR-15 and keep it for himself in Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse – who lived across a state border, but only 20 miles from Kenosha – said he was on the streets of this southeastern Wisconsin town on August 25 to protect businesses and provide medical assistance during protests.
Photos of Rittenhouse that night show him with his AR-15 slung over his shoulder and a medical bag over his hip.
“I was going to a place where people had guns, and God forbid that someone brought me a gun and decided to shoot me … I wanted to be protected, so I finished out of duty to protect me, “Rittenhouse told the newspaper.
He was later asked if he regretted arming himself, Rittenhouse replied that he had not.
“No, I don’t regret it,” he said. “I would have died that night if I hadn’t. I feel like I had to protect myself.”
Rosenbaum had long battled mental illness and suicide attempts, and had just been released from a hospital earlier today, his fiancee, Kariann Swart, told The Post.
Swart said they spent hours at a motel where she lived and cleaned the rooms. But due to a previous domestic violence arrest, Rosenbaum left the motel that night, fearing that he would be arrested for breaking a protection order, she told the newspaper.
She urged him to avoid downtown Kenosha, but he sort of found himself in the middle of the protest. Video taken by onlookers appears to show Rosenbaum running at Rittenhouse and throwing a plastic bag at him moments before gunshots rang out and the 36-year-old collapsed on the sidewalk.
Swart said the bag was full of items Rosenbaum had with him in the hospital. The girlfriend rejected Rittenhouse’s self-defense request.
“I don’t think there’s any form of self-defense when there’s an unarmed person in front of you and you’re holding an assault rifle two feet away,” Swart said.
Kenosha District Attorney Michael Graveley could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.
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