After the shootings, Kyle Rittenhouse left Kenosha and returned to his home in Antioch, Illinois, where accompanied by his mother he turned himself in to his hometown police. He was held there in a juvenile facility until turned over to Wisconsin authorities on Friday, October 30, 2020, and is now in the Kenosha County Jail awaiting trial. Here is what his interview with Antioch police was like, as reported by CBS News (read story here):
“Kyle Rittenhouse cycled through a range of emotions, crying and vomiting several times, as he described to police what happened.”
“I shot two white kids,” Rittenhouse told the Antioch police, adding he “ended a man’s life.”
“He started to cry after learning from family members about negative social media comments over the shootings.”
Rittenhouse told police interviewers he “was hit in the head and neck with a baseball bat and skateboard,” but medics found only “small scratches on his arm” and “no bruising or cuts.”
“Rittenhouse also told police that he had been hired as security for a Kenosha business and that he carried the rifle to protect himself. The owner of the business, Car Source, has told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he did not hire any security.”
Rittenhouse is presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law. His lawyer claimed at his extradition hearing that he acted in self-defense. However, an extradition hearing doesn’t determine guilt or innocence, but only whether a person accused of committed a crime in another state should be handed over to that state.
Wisconsin’s homicide statute is atypical; the lesser charge of manslaughter doesn’t exist in that state. The details of Wisconsin’s homicide law are found here.