Armed white men patrolling Kenosha protests
organized on Facebook
Prior to shooting that left two dead, presence of
militia prompted criticism from protesters – and some support from police
Adam
Mahoney in Kenosha, Lois Beckett and Julia Carrie Wong in Oakland and Victoria
Bekiempis in New York
Wed 26 Aug
2020 22.21 BSTLast modified on Thu 27 Aug 2020 00.18 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/26/kenosha-militia-protest-shooting-facebook
Hours
before a 17-year-old white man allegedly killed two people and injured a third
at protests over a police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a local militia group
posted a call on Facebook: “Any patriots willing to take up arms and defend our
city tonight from evil thugs?”
It’s not
yet clear if Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois teenager arrested on suspicion of
murder after last night’s shootings in Kenosha, was among the people who
responded to the call the militia group had posted, which was later featured on
the conspiracy theory site InfoWars.
A Facebook
account listed under Rittenhouse’s name included images of the young white man
posting with a military-style rifle, as well as multiple posts expressing
support for law enforcement.
He included
the pro-police slogan “blue lives matter” on his profile photo. A post in 2018
asked for people to donate to Humanizing the Badge, a non-profit organization
that seeks to create “stronger” relationships between police and communities.
Facebook
said that it had not yet found evidence that suggested that Rittenhouse had
followed the page of the militia group, Kenosha Guard, or that he was invited
on the event page they organized for Tuesday, which urged armed citizens to
protect their lives and property.
But it
confirmed on Wednesday that it had taken down Kenosha Guard’s page for violating
its new policy against organizations and movements tied to violence, including
militia groups.
Kenosha
Guard said that it was “unaware” if the shooter was “answering the Kenosha
Guard Militia’s call to arms”, the group posted on Facebook on Wednesday
morning, shortly before Facebook took it down.
The group’s
founder, 36-year-old Kevin Mathewson, said that a 17-year-old “had no business
being armed legally or ethically”, but the shooter is “responsible for his own
actions”.
Before the
shooting, the presence of armed white men at the Black Lives Matter protests in
Kenosha on Tuesday night prompted criticism from protesters – and some support
from law enforcement.
In a widely
circulating video from Tuesday night, Kenosha police can be heard thanking and
tossing bottled water from an armored vehicle to what appear to be armed
civilians walking the streets.
“We
appreciate you being here,” an officer is heard saying over a loudspeaker.
But David
Best, the county sheriff, told media outlets after the shooting that people
patrolling the streets in Kenosha were a “like a vigilante group”, and said
that the shooting was evidence of why suggestions to deputize citizens to help
law enforcement contain the unrest in the city had been a bad idea.
“Hell no …
no way. Last night was the perfect reason why I would not do that,” he said at
a press conference in Kenosha on Wednesday afternoon.
Best said
that militia notices he saw on social media “looked like party invitations”.
He said
that deputizing citizens to provide law enforcement would entail such
individuals coming under the umbrella of the sheriff’s office.
“So that
would in reality have been a deputy sheriff who killed two people last night.
The liability that goes with that would have been immense,” he said.
Kenosha
Guard, the Wisconsin militia group that called for armed citizens to patrol
Kenosha on Tuesday night, was small, recently formed and less a structured
organization than a “general call to arms”, its founder, a former local elected
official, told the Guardian.
Mathewson,
a 36-year former Kenosha city alderman known for clashing with city officials,
said he was upset at the unrest in the city after the police shooting of Jacob
Blake.
The group’s
message, he said, was a call to Americans to exercise their right to bear arms:
“If you love our city and don’t want to see it burn, get your guns and go
outside.”
Kenosha
Guard’s Facebook posts and planned Tuesday night event were covered by the
conspiracy theory website InfoWars, and prompted a passionate response, Mathewson
said, with private messages from hundreds of people, and thousands of people
who indicated they might attend the event.
But some
protesters who saw the armed men, including Mathewson, who said he was carrying
an AR-15 rifle on Tuesday night, criticized their presence.
“I question
that gentleman showing up in military fatigues and sidearms at a peaceful
protest,” the Rev Dr Monica Cummings of Bradford Community church told CBS
Chicago.
After the
militia’s Facebook posts made their way to the community, some protesters said
they feared that “white supremacist violence” would derail their otherwise
peaceful protests.
“We saw
white supremacists on Facebook threatening to gun us all down and mess up our
movement,” Chris Rosmann, a protester standing in a park near where Jacob Blake
was shot, gathering with a diverse group of demonstrators, told the Guardian.
“And we
know the media is going to shift the narrative in their favor, even though
that’s not us causing the harm,” he added.
Among a
group of men standing outside a burnt-out car dealership, one of the business
casualties of the unrest, a local named Josh, who asked to withhold his last
name for safety reasons, said: “Locals definitely are not in total agreement
with the police here, but we’re all just confused and scared by the people
coming in and stoking violence,” he said.
He said he
had lived in Kenosha all his life and was confused by the violence taking
place.
Some
bystanders said that the situation on Tuesday night was so chaotic that it was
unclear even to some protesters and media on the scene whether gunfire was
coming only from militia-type vigilantes or also some local business owners
standing guard with guns over their properties.
Facebook’s
new policy to take action on groups linked to violence was announced on 19
August and was designed to address groups that “demonstrated significant risks
to public safety” but did not rise to the level of terrorist organizations or
hate groups. Upon announcement of the policy, Facebook said it had banned 980
groups and 520 pages associated with US-based militias or groups that “identify
as Antifa”.
Facebook
said it was still investigating the Kenosha incident and did not immediately
comment.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, appears to have long been
interested in law enforcement and claimed he was at protest to protect
businesses
Victoria
Bekiempis
Wed 26 Aug
2020 22.15 BSTLast modified on Thu 27 Aug 2020 00.22 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/26/kyle-rittenhouse-kenosha-murders-blm-protest-militia
Kyle
Rittenhouse, who is suspected of involvement in fatally shooting two people and
wounding another during the Kenosha, Wisconsin, protests on Tuesday night,
appears to have long been interested in law enforcement – and considered
himself a militia member working to protect property, social media posts and
reports indicate.
Rittenhouse,
17, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with first degree intentional
homicide for his alleged role in the shootings. He is presently jailed in
nearby Lake county, according to law enforcement documents.
A Facebook
account under Rittenhouse’s name, which can no longer be accessed, contained
photos of him posing with an apparent assault-style rifle. Text surrounding the
photo includes the pro-police phrase “blue lives matter”. Several other photos
on this profile page feature that wording, as well as images showing local law
enforcement agencies’ logos.
In December
2018, Rittenhouse created a fundraiser for “Humanizing the Badge,” an
organization “seeking to forge stronger relationships between law enforcement
officers and the communities they serve”. The post indicates that Rittenhouse
was seeking donations for his birthday.
“Their
mission means a lot to me, and I hope you’ll consider contributing as a way to
celebrate with me,” the post read.
A Facebook
page belonging to a middle-aged woman identifies this same Rittenhouse as her
son. On this page, this woman and a boy who appears to be Rittenhouse are
posing in a photo together and he is wearing a law enforcement-style uniform.
Several videos
posted to TikTok also show a male who appears to be Rittenhouse firing guns.
In a video
posted to Twitter by a journalist for the conservative media outlet the Daily
Caller, a male who appears to be Rittenhouse stands with his gun, explaining
why he is present at protests.
“So people
are getting injured and our job is to protect this business,” he explained,
saying that part of his job was also to help injured people. “I’m running into
harm’s way, that’s why I have my rifle,” he said, “to protect myself
obviously”.
“I also
have my med kit,” he said, showing an orange bag to the camera.
Attempts to
reach Rittenhouse’s family were not immediately successful.
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