On Friday, following nearly four days of jury deliberations, Kyle Rittenhouse was announced to have been acquitted in his homicide trial.
Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all counts in connection with shooting and killing two men (Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber) and injuring a third (Gaige Grosskreutz) when he showed up with an AR-15 style rifle amid protests in Kenosha last year.
The Blue Lives Matter supporter, who conceded during the trial that he thought the aforementioned gun “looked cool,” had faced multiple charges including first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide. Rittenhouse fatally shot Rosenbaum and Huber amid protests in Kenosha spurred by police shooting Jacob Blake in the back.
During the trial, questions were raised by the public regarding Judge Bruce Schroeder, including his phone going off at one point to reveal Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” as his ringtone. The song, notably, has been used at rallies for former POTUS Donald Trump.
Upon the announcement of Rittenhouse’s acquittal on Friday, many prominent voices took to social media to criticize the verdict and its potential impact on similar cases in the future. In an extended statement shared via the Loevy & Loevy law firm, Karen Bloom and John Huber—parents to Anthony Huber, who was killed by Rittenhouse—stated that Friday’s verdict meant there had been “no justice” for their son.
“Today’s verdict means there is no accountability for the person who murdered our son,” the parents said. “It sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street. We hope that decent people will join us in forcefully rejecting that message and demanding more of our laws, our officials, and our justice system.”
Below, see additional reactions to Rittenhouse’s acquittal. And for more on what transpired during the trial, click here.
