Kyle Rittenhouse friend charged, bought him gun in Kenosha shooting
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A 17-year-old police admirer was arrested after the killing of two people during Kenosha protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Kyle Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Illinois, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide. (Aug. 26)
AP Domestic
MILWAUKEE — A 19-year-old Kenosha man has been charged with illegally giving a rifle to Kyle Rittenhouse, which the 17-year-old used to kill two people and wound a third during unrest in Kenosha in August.
Dominick Black faces two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to someone under 18, resulting in death. The counts relate to Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, the men Rittenhouse killed. Rittenhouse’s attorneys say he was acting in self-defense.
According to records obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after litigation, Black told investigators he had purchased the Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle for Rittenhouse last summer while they were both in Ladysmith, Wisconsin, with money Rittenhouse supplied. Someone under 18 cannot legally purchase a firearm, but Black signed paperwork indicating he was buying the rifle for himself.
The rifle was supposed to be used only while hunting up north at the Black’s family’s property. In the meantime, it was stored at Black’s stepfather’s house in Kenosha. But the stepfather told police he had removed the guns from a locked safe in his garage to inside his home after the violence that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake on Aug. 23.
When Black told his stepfather by phone he was going downtown to help clean graffiti, and to guard a business, the stepfather suggested he not go, according to reports.
Dominick Black (Photo: Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office)
Prosecutors say Black kept the gun in Wisconsin, and Rittenhouse never possessed it in Illinois, where he lived with his mother and sisters. Black had the gun in his trunk and turned it over to police after Rittenhouse turned himself in to Antioch, Illinois, police just a few hours after the shootings.
Black was also in Kenosha, armed with his own rifle, on the night of Aug. 25. He told investigators he was on the roof of an auto repair shop, that he and Rittenhouse said they were protecting, and did not see the shootings for which Rittenhouse now faces homicide and attempted homicide charges.
Black appeared to know it was illegal to give the rifle to his underage friend. He recalled telling Rittenhouse, “In all reality, you are not supposed to have that gun. That gun was in my name.”
Kyle Rittenhouse told Antioch police where to find the gun he used in the Kenosha protest shooting. The gun was in the trunk of a friend’s car, along with another firearm owned by his friend. (Photo: Antioch Police Department)
At an initial court appearance Monday, Black appeared via Zoom from the Kenosha County Jail. Court Commissioner Loren Keating set bail at $2,500 and ordered Black to have no contact with Rittenhouse or Gaige Grosskreutz, the West Allis man Rittenhouse wounded that same night.
His attorney, Robert Keller, said Black lives in Kenosha with his mother and has no criminal history.
A preliminary hearing was set for Nov. 19.
Prosecutors say the statute prohibits anyone under 18 to “go armed” with a gun unless they are hunting, and have taken the required safety courses and properly licensed.
Rittenhouse has been held at the Kenosha County Jail on $2 million bail since his failed effort to fight extradition from Illinois.
Follow reporter Bruce Vielmetti on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.
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