Kenosha police have shared photos and video footage of the state crime lab shredding the AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle Kyle Rittenhouse used to fatally shoot two people and wound a third during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
In January Rittenhouse's attorney filed a request to the Kenosha County Circuit Court requesting that the rifle be returned "to ensure that the firearm in question is properly destroyed," according to coverage by The Hill. Rittenhouse changed his mind in regards to those plans and during an appearance on "The Charlie Kirk Show" in December he told the host "we don't want anything to do with that."
Related: Man who gave Kyle Rittenhouse his rifle faces $2K fine, but will have felony charges dismissed
The shredding of the rifle took place on February 25 and you can see footage of it aired by TMJ4 News in Milwaukee below:
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When it was agreed upon that the rifle would be destroyed by a third party, Rittenhouse's attorneys stated that their client was in agreement because he didn't want to see it get sold and end up as someone's trophy.
The two men killed by Rittenhouse were named Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber. The third man, badly injured but surviving the shooting, is named Gaige Grosskreutz.
Rittenhouse was acquitted of the charges placed against him as a result of the shooting, and his claim during trial was that he'd acted in self-defense.
Dominick Black, the man who supplied the rifle to Rittenhouse, plead no contest in January to charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and was made to pay a $2,000 fine in a plea deal that avoided criminal conviction.
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