A Christian crowdfunding site has raised over half a million dollars to help suspected Kenosha, Wisconsin, shooter Kyle Rittenhouse with legal fees.
“Kyle Rittenhouse just defended himself from a brutal attack by multiple members of the far-leftist group ANTIFA — the experience was undoubtedly a brutal one, as he was forced to take two lives to defend his own,” the fundraising page on the site GiveSendGo reads.“Now, Kyle is being unfairly charged with murder 1, by a DA who seems determined to capitalize on the political angle of the situation,” the page description adds. “The situation was clearly self-defense, and Kyle and his family will undoubtedly need money to pay for the legal fees.”
“Let’s give back to someone who bravely tried to defend his community.”
The original fundraising goal for the page was $500,000, but it has raised more than $520,000 as of Tuesday morning.
Rittenhouse, 17, was arrested and charged with six crimes, including first-degree reckless homicide, after allegedly shooting and killing two people during a riot in Kenosha following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Rittenhouse has maintained his innocence through his lawyers, arguing that various viral videos on social media of the incident in question show he acted in self-defense.
“Where are the charges for aggravated assault against Kyle Rittenhouse?” attorney John Pierce, who is representing Rittenhouse, asked Fox News’s Tucker Carlson in late August. “As a 17-year-old, he was legally entitled to have that firearm in his possession. This is 100% self-defense, Tucker.”
