Sandy MaloneKenosha, WI – Actor Ricky Schroder and My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell helped 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who is accused of murdering two people during the Jacob Blake riots in Kenosha, get out of jail on a $2 million bond on Friday.
Rittenhouse’s attorney, L. Lin Wood posted a picture of Rittenhouse standing between the “NYPD Blue” actor and attorney John Pierce shortly after he was freed.
“FREE AT LAST!!!” Wood tweeted shortly before 9 p.m. on Nov. 20, along with a thank you to all the donors and “patriots” who had helped.
Rittenhouse is facing five felony charges including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, and a misdemeanor charge for possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor, WEAR reported.
FREE AT LAST!!!
From L to R:
Attorney John Pierce @CaliKidJMP
THE KYLE RITTENHOUSE
Actor Ricky Schroder @rickyschroder13
Thank you, All Donors.
Thank you, All Patriots.
Thank God Almighty.#FightBack pic.twitter.com/37Ly66itT8— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) November 21, 2020
Black Rifle Coffee Company was not happy to see a t-shirt advertising their product featured in the picture of the freed Rittenhouse, KSTU reported.
The company, who has facilities in Utah and Tennessee, is entirely veteran-owned and has been very popular with military, law enforcement, and conservative coffee drinkers, but they weren’t happy about having Rittenhouse appear promoting their brand.
Then a podcast the company sponsors on Blaze Media tweeted out a discount code for the coffee along with the picture of Rittenhouse in the Black Rifle shirt, KSTU reported.
“Kyle Rittenhouse drinks the best coffee in America,” Elijah Schaffer, host of Blaze Media’s “Slightly Offens*ve,” tweeted.
At first, the company said it was pulling its advertising from the podcast, KSTU reported.
But a company spokesperson later said she had been mistaken and that no advertising dollars had been taken away.
“We are not fluctuating our ad spend,” she told the Salt Lake Tribune in a text. “We did have a conversation with Schaffer, and he understands that the post was a mistake.”
“Our concern is that use of the discount code in the post did not reflect our values. That’s a concern we’ve addressed with the journalist and that he understands,” she added.
The Black Rifle spokesperson said that Blaze Media staff “make decisions about how to allocate ad dollars within the Blaze” but she didn’t say whether the company had asked to be left out of Schaffer’s show going forward, KSTU reported.
The company attempted to explain its move after they faced backlash from Rittenhouse’s supporters.
“We do not support legal advocacy efforts,” Black Rifle co-founder Evan Hafer said in a written statement. “We do not sponsor nor do we have a relationship with the 17-year-old facing charges in Kenosha, WI.”
Rittenhouse bought his AR-15 with his coronavirus stimulus check.
“I got my $1,200 stimulus check from the coronavirus Illinois unemployment ‘cause I was on furlough from YMCA And I got my first unemployment check and so I was like ‘Oh, I’ll use this to buy it,’” Kyle Rittenhouse told The Washington Post in his first interview from jail.
Prosecutors have said that Rittenhouse’s friend, Dominick Black, agreed to purchase the AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle because Rittenhouse wasn’t old enough to buy it for himself, WTMJ reported.
The complaint said that Rittenhouse gave Black the money to buy the gun and he purchased the Smith & Wesson M&P15 at the Ladysmith Ace Home Center.
Black and Rittenhouse agreed the gun would be stored at Black’s stepfather’s house in Kenosha because Rittenhouse didn’t have an Illinois Firearm Owner Identification card, WTMJ reported.
Rittenhouse told The Washington Post that Black’s stepfather, Scott Dickhart, agreed to store the weapon until after he turned 18 and it could be legally transferred to him.
He said that the night before the shootings, he and his sister were watching the riots on television at Dickhart’s house with Black.
Before leaving the house, Rittenhouse said that Dickhart took his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and several other guns out of his gun safe.
Dickhart left everything accessible in the basement, the 17 year old told The Washington Post.
Nothing happened that night, but the next day, Rittenhouse said he and Black were asked by their friend Nick Smith to help provide security for a car dealership worried that it would be touched and looted by rioters.
Rittenhouse and Black thought they were getting paid for providing security at Car Source, according to The Washington Post.
As they left Dickhart’s house, Rittenhouse grabbed his AR-15 and the new sling he had purchased for it.
Black told The Washington Post that at the time, he thought maybe he should say something to stop Rittenhouse but that he thought his friend would get angry with him.
“I feel I had to protect myself,” Rittenhouse explained. “I would have died that night if I didn’t.”
Later that night, Rittenhouse shot three people – killing two – as he was pursued and attacked by an angry mob through the streets of Kenosha.
Attorneys for Rittenhouse have maintained that the 17 year old was acting in self-defense when he fired his rifle.
Holly Matkin
