Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse says he used his $1,200 COVID-19 relief payment from the government to acquire the AR-15 he used to shoot three people in August.
Rittenhouse said he gave the money to his friend Dominick Black — then aged 18 — so Black could purchase the gun for Rittenhouse, according to the New York Post. Rittenhouse could not legally purchase the firearm himself at the time, being only 17 years old. (RELATED: REPORT: Biden’s Gun Tax Could Cost Gun Owners Upwards Of $34 Billion)
Rittenhouse told the Washington Post in an interview that he received a $1,200 stimulus check because he was on furlough from his job at the YMCA. He said that Black had agreed to transfer ownership of the gun to him once he turned 18, the Post reported.
Kyle Rittenhouse, in a jailhouse interview, said he used stimulus money to get a gun. https://t.co/9VBuCy9V1Q
— Ben Gittleson (@bgittleson) November 19, 2020
The 17-year-old shot three people, killing two, during rioting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25. The unrest was sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake just a few days earlier. Rittenhouse maintains that he was acting in self-defense as he sought to prevent looters from destroying property in the city. (RELATED: Jacob Blake Reaches Plea Deal, Pleads Guilty To Disorderly Conduct)
Black has been charged with two felony counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor resulting in death. Rittenhouse has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide and is being held in a juvenile facility on $2 million bail, the Post reported.