Wisconsin officials destroyed the rifle Kyle Rittenhouse used to shoot three people during street protests in Kenosha in 2020.
The State Crime Lab destroyed the rifle on February 25 WISN-TV reported. The station released a video showing technicians unboxing the gun and feeding it into a shredder.
Rittenhouse, 19, and his lawyers previously said the teenager intended to destroy the gun himself so no one would take advantage of the weapon.
Judge Bruce Schroeder, who presided over the trial that acquitted Rittenhouse of all charges, heard arguments on whether prosecutors should return the assault rifle.
The judge eventually ended efforts by the teen’s lawyers to recover the gun.
Kyle Rittenhouse enters the courtroom to hear the verdicts of his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse
Kyle Rittenhouse walks along Sheridan Road in Kenosha, Wisconsin in this August 25, 2020 file photo. Before midnight, he used his Smith & Wesson AR-style semi-automatic to shoot three people, killing two
Kenosha Police Department Detective Martin Howard retrieves the weapon used by Rittenhouse on August 25, 2020, during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse on November 8, 2021
“The Kenosha Police Department and Joint Services will destroy this firearm, along with the magazine and scope,” Assistant District Attorney Tom Binger told the court in January.
“It will not be in anyone’s possession.
The agreement provided that the process be recorded.
“I have discussed this with my client and it meets his objectives,” Mark Richards, Rittenhouse’s attorney, told the court in response to the judge’s ruling.
Richards had filed a motion on Jan. 19 asking prosecutors to return Rittenhouse’s rifle, ammunition, face mask and other clothing he was wearing on the night of the shooting.
Kyle Rittenhouse looks back as attorneys discuss the elements of his defense’s motion to mistrial at the Kenosha County Courthouse
Kenosha Police Detective Ben Antaramian prepares to show an assault rifle belonging to defendant Kyle Rittenhouse to State Crime Lab firearms examiner Heather Williams and the jury during the trial in court in kenosha circuit
Richards and David Hancock, a spokesman for Rittenhouse, said Rittenhouse wanted to destroy the rifle and dispose of the rest of the items so that nothing could be used as a political symbol or trophy celebrating the shooting.
Rittenhouse shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and injured Gaige Grosskreutz during the August 2020 protests.
The protests began after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, a black man, during a domestic disturbance.
The shooting left Blake paralyzed from the waist down.
Prosecutors filed multiple charges against Rittenhouse. A jury acquitted him of all charges in November after arguing that the three men attacked him and that he was forced to shoot in self-defence.
Rittenhouse has become a hot topic for liberals and conservatives alike, who have debated whether or not his shooting was justified
Rittenhouse was 17 at the time of the protests, too young to buy a gun in Wisconsin.
His friend, Dominick Black, bought the gun from him earlier that year. Black, 20, did not dispute in January his contribution to the delinquency of a minor.
He had faced two felony charges for delivering a dangerous weapon to a minor, resulting in death.
Conservatives across the country praised Rittenhouse, saying he defended Kenosha against far-left activists. The Liberals painted him as a trigger-happy vigilante.
Kyle Rittenhouse, center, enters the courtroom with his lawyers Mark Richards, left, on November 18, 2021
Pictured: Kyle Rittenhouse, left in a backwards cap, walks along Sheridan Road with former Army infantryman Ryan Balch in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Protesters took to the streets for several nights in Kenosha in August 2020 after a white police officer shot black Jacob Blake in the back as Blake resisted arrest during a domestic disturbance.
The shooting left Blake paralyzed from the waist down.
Protests have at times turned chaotic, with people burning down buildings. Rittenhouse and Black joined a vigilante group to protect a used car parking lot on the night of August 25, 2020.
Pictured: Kyle Rittenhouse on the night of the fatal protest shooting in August 2020
Dominick Black (pictured), who faces charges for buying the Kyle Rittenhouse assault rifle used in the Kenosha protest, has accepted a plea deal
Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time and lived in Antioch, Illinois, was armed with an AR-15 type rifle that Black had bought him earlier that year because he was too young to shoot. purchase a firearm under Wisconsin law.
He shot the men during the 2020 Kenosha protest. He killed Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz in the arm.
He had argued that he had fired in self-defense after each of the men attacked him. Last year, a jury acquitted him on several counts, including homicide.
According to the petition, Black had agreed that the rifle would become Rittenhouse’s property on his 18th birthday – January 3, 2021.
Bystanders and surveillance footage show that just before midnight, Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse and Rittenhouse shot him as he closed in on him.
He shot Huber after Huber swung a skateboard at his head and Grosskreutz after Grosskreutz rushed at him holding a gun.
