Kyle Rittenhouse, told The Washington Post that he used stimulus money he received from the government to buy the gun he used to shoot three people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, killing two.
He received the money through an Illinois unemployment program when he was furloughed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Rittenhouse was too young to buy the gun so he gave the money to a family friend named Dominick Black who bought the AR-15 in the spring of 2020.
“I got my $1,200 from the coronavirus Illinois unemployment because I was on furlough from YMCA,” he told The Post. “And I got my first unemployment check, so I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll use this to buy it.’ ”
Wisconsin law permits minors to shoot target practice with adult supervision but prohibits them from owning the firearm or carrying it in public. The gun was kept at Black’s stepdad’s home in Kenosha. The plan was to transfer ownership of the weapon to Rittenhouse when he turned 18.
[READ: Kyle Rittenhouse’s mom blames protesters and police after her killed two protesters in Kenosha.]
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Rittenhouse used this same gun to kill two people and wounded a third at an August 25th protest in Kenosha, Wis., following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man by police.
Rittenhouse now faces charges of multiple counts of homicide and weapons offenses. He plans to plead not guilty to all charges.
