MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin officials have destroyed the rifle Kyle Rittenhouse used to shoot three people during street protests in Kenosha in 2020.
WISN-TV reported Friday that the state crime lab destroyed the rifle on Feb. 25. The station posted video showing technicians unboxing the gun and feeding into a shredder.
Rittenhouse’s attorneys and prosecutors agreed in January that the gun would be destroyed, Rittenhouse’s lead attorney, Mark Richards, said Rittenhouse didn’t want someone to buy it and turn it into a trophy. The agreement called for the process to be recorded.
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Rittenhouse shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz during the protests in August 2020. The demonstrations began after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, during a domestic disturbance. The shooting left Blake paralyzed from the waist down.
Prosecutors filed multiple charges against Rittenhouse. A jury acquitted him on all counts in November after he argued all three men attacked him and he was forced to fire in self-defense.
Rittenhouse was 17 at the time of the protests, too young to buy a firearm in Wisconsin. His friend, Dominick Black, bought the gun for him earlier that year. Black pleaded no contest in January to contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
For the latest news and trial updates on WI v. Kyle Rittenhouse, visit www.courttv.com/rittenhouse