On August 25, 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse attended protests regarding the shooting of Jacob Blake in nearby Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse was not there to join protesters, but instead came from Antioch, Illinois with a loaded and illegally acquired Smith & Wesson M&P 15 to protect a local car dealership he had allegedly been asked to watch that night, according to the owners of the dealership, brothers Anmol Khindri and Sahil Khindri.

That night, Rittenhouse shot and killed two people, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and wounded a third person, Gaige Grosskreutz. Rittenhouse and his attorney, Mark Richards, stated that the murders of Rosenbaum and Huber were an act of self defense. 

They claimed that Rosenbaum lunged at Rittenhouse as he was reaching for his rifle. After shooting Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse began running while being chased by the protestors. As he was being chased, Huber struck Rittenhouse with a skateboard to get him to drop his gun. Despite this, Rittenhouse shot Huber once in the chest, and later asserted this was done in “self-defense”. 

Over a year later, on November 19th 2021, the now-18-year-old Rittenhouse was tried as an adult, facing multiple felony charges such as First Degree Reckless Homicide, Use of a Dangerous Weapon, and First Degree Recklessly Endangering Safety. After multiple court hearings, an all-white jury came to the verdict that Rittenhouse would be found not guilty on all counts on November 19, 2021.