Fate of Rittenhouse rifle decided

The rifle Kyle Rittenhouse used during the 2020 Kenosha riots will be destroyed and not returned to the teenager, Judge Bruce Schroeder ruled on Friday. 

Rittenhouse’s attorney, Mark Richards, had previously filed a motion requesting Rittenhouse have items returned to him from the night he shot and killed two individuals and wounded a third. The shooting was ultimately determined to be self-defense, after a 2021 trial that caused uproar and split much of the country across party lines. 

The outcome, however, appears to be the same either way, as Rittenhouse had expressed that he himself wanted to destroy the items from that night so they could not later be used to glorify or profit off of the shooting that took place. 

Rittenhouse was charged with fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber during a Black Lives Matter protest that morphed into a destructive riot in 2020. He was also charged with wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, who was also armed that night. The jury ultimately came back with a “not guilty” verdict after a fiery trial, in which prosecutors argued Rittenhouse traveled to Kenosha with deadly intentions, something the teenager repeatedly denied. 

Rittenhouse was not present for Friday’s hearing. Prosecutor Tom Binger said Rittenhouse’s rifle will be destroyed by the police crime lab by the end of April. According to Binger, the agreement to destroy the rifle had been reached by prosecutors, the defense team, and Dominick Black, the individual who originally purchased the gun. 

Richards said on Friday that the outcome was exactly what Rittenhouse wanted, despite his request to have the items returned not panning out.  

“It is what we wanted. We did not want [it] released and then sold, not seeking to profit,” he said in a statement released to the media.