Kyle Rittenhouse Files To Get His AR-15 Back, Along With Everything Else Seized From Him

Kenosha, WI – Kyle Rittenhouse wants the AR-15 style rifle back that he used to shoot three people during the Jacob Blake riots in Kenosha so that he can have it destroyed.

Mark Richards, Rittenhouse’s defense attorney, filed paperwork on Jan. 19 with the Kenosha County Circuit Court seeking the return of the gun and other items that were seized by the police during their investigation, the Associated Press reported.

A hearing has been scheduled in front of Kenosha Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder on Jan. 28, the Kenosha News reported.

Schroeder also presided over Rittenhouse’s murder trial.

A Kenosha County jury found him not guilty on all charges on Nov. 19, 2021.

If Rittenhouse had been found guilty, the state would have destroyed the semi-automatic rifle since it could not have been legally returned to its owner, the Kenosha News reported.

Dave Hancock, a spokesperson for Rittenhouse, had previously said that the now-19 year old who killed two people and seriously wounded a third with that weapon when he was just 17 had no interest in recovering it.

Hancock explained the motion for the gun’s return in a text as a “legal process … The DA must return his belongings. When the rifle is returned, it will be destroyed,” according to the Kenosha News.

Attorneys for Rittenhouse have also requested that the Kenosha County district attorney return the ammunition, sling, and magazine from the firearm along with the teen’s iPhone, face mask, and a $1 bill.

Rittenhouse also wanted to retrieve the clothes he was wearing the night of the shootings, including a pair of boots, a baseball cap, blue jeans, socks, a belt, and a t-shirt, according to the Kenosha News.

The law says the gun has to be returned to Rittenhouse unless he is legally prohibited from owning it.

“If the seized property is a firearm… and a person claiming the right to possession of the firearm has applied for its return… the court shall order a hearing… to occur within 20 business days after the person applies for the return,” the Kenosha News reported.

If “the person is not prohibited from possessing a firearm under state or federal law as determined… the court shall, within 5 days of the completion of the hearing and using a return of firearms form developed by the director of state courts, order the property returned,” according to Wisconsin law.

The teen’s attorneys have said the shootings occurred when he was in Kenosha to help clean graffiti off school buildings that had been vandalized during the anti-police riots when a friend asked him to help provide security for a car dealership.

Rittenhouse, then 17 years old, brought a medic kit and an AR-15 rifle that a friend had purchased for him with his stimulus check and told reporters on the scene he was there to help anybody who was hurt.

That friend, Dominick Black, recently pleaded “no contest” to misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

At one point, he left the car dealership to provide medical aid to a protester and then found himself blocked from returning to where his friends were.

His attorneys have said Rittenhouse was pursued through the streets of Kenosha and shot three people – killing two – in self-defense.

One of the men whom Rittenhouse shot that night testified at trial that he had pointed his gun at the teenager before the boy shot him, CNN reported.

“When you were standing three to five feet from him with your arms up in the air, he never fired, right?” defense attorney Corey Chirafisi asked Gaige Grosskreutz, whom Rittenhouse shot in the right bicep.

“Correct,” Grosskreutz said.

“It wasn’t until you pointed your gun at him, advanced on him with your gun – now your hand is down pointed at him — that he fired, right?” Chirafisi asked.

“Correct,” Grosskreutz responded.

Grosskreutz testified that he was carrying a pistol concealed that night even though his conceal carried permit wad expired, CNN reported.

He also admitted that he lied to investigators when he claimed his gun had fallen out of his pants earlier in the evening.

The prosecution clearly surprised prosecutors when they put Rittenhouse on the stand because Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger had to ask for a break to go back to his office first.

Rittenhouse, for his part, fell apart in sobs on the stand when Binger he was being walked through the shootings on the stand.

“I did what I had to do to stop the person who was attacking me,” the 18 year old told the jury.

“By killing them?” Binger asked.

“Two of them passed away but I stopped the threat from attacking me,” Rittenhouse replied.

“By using deadly force?” Binger asked.

“I used deadly force,” Rittenhouse answered the prosecutor. “… I didn’t know if it was going to kill them. But I used deadly force to stop the threat that was attacking me.”

The jury believed Rittenhouse’s claims of self-defense and found him not guilty on all charges.