A 17-year-old from Illinois who is charged with killing two people during a protest in Wisconsin, and whose case has become a rallying cry for some conservatives, posted $2 million bail Friday and was released from custody. Kyle Rittenhouse is accused of fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz during a demonstration Aug. 25 that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha. He posted bond through his attorney about 2pm, the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department said. Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Illinois, told police that he was attacked while he was guarding a business and that he fired in self-defense, the AP reports. He faces multiple charges, including intentional homicide, reckless endangerment, and being a minor in possession of a firearm.
His case has taken on political overtones. Supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement have painted Rittenhouse as a trigger-happy white supremacist. Conservatives upset over property destruction during recent protests have portrayed him as a patriot exercising his right to bear arms during unrest. A legal defense fund has attracted millions of dollars in donations, and his mother got a standing ovation from women at a Waukesha County GOP function in September. Huber's father, John Huber, asked Circuit Court Commissioner Loren Keating during a hearing Nov. 2 to set Rittenhouse's bail between $4 million and $10 million, suggesting that militia groups would hide him from police if he were released. Rittenhouse is due back in court on Dec. 3 for a preliminary hearing.
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