(Headline USA) Kyle Rittenhouse filed a motion in court this week to get his rifle back after authorities confiscated it in 2020 during the Kenosha, Wisconsin, riots.
The 18-year-old was found not guilty last year after he was charged with shooting and killing two men and injuring another. He argued he had been acting in self-defense and that the men had been chasing and threatening him.
His attorneys filed a motion to the Kenosha County Circuit Court to get the AR-15 rifle he used during the shooting so he can “destroy” it, according to the filing. Rittenhouse’s team also asked for his cell phone, ammunition, and the rifle’s magazine back.
The filing states: “As established through the trial testimony of both Dominick Black and Mr. Rittenhouse, the Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle … was purchased by Dominick Black but was to become the legal property of Kyle Rittenhouse upon his 18th birthday, which was Jan. 3, 2021 … Mr. Rittenhouse further wishes to ensure that the firearm in question is properly destroyed.”
A spokesperson for the Rittenhouse family, David Hancock, said the teenager wants to destroy the rifle to prevent people from celebrating it.
“There’s nothing to celebrate about that weapon. There isn’t. Kyle has no interest and no want to recover that weapon, and absolutely no interest to sell it or anything,” Hancock said, according to the Kenosha News.
There are plenty of people “on both sides” who would like to “hold these items up,” Hancock continued.
“At the end of the day, two people did lose their lives, period,” he said.”That weapon was involved in that. That weapon doesn’t belong on a mantle. It doesn’t belong in a museum. It belongs where Kyle wants it, and Kyle wants it destroyed.”
Had Rittenhouse been convicted of a felony, the state would have destroyed the firearm for him.
