The Young Killer In Wisconsin Claims Self Defense

That seems like a stretch

What is happening in this world? The lawyer for the young killer in Wisconsin is claiming self-defence. The 17-year-old from nearby Illinois took a long rifle to a demonstration and ended up killing some innocent protesters. He shot and killed two White men and injured another. They were there to protest peacefully for Black Lives Matter, and they lost their lives. Now the lawyer says it was self-defence.

It is unfortunate when young people ruin their lives by killing people, but this young man knew what he was doing. It is quite likely that he wanted to kill Black people.

I happened to watch the Dateline episode on August 28, 2020, where Lester Holt took his camera crew and filmed inside the largest maximum-security prison in America. It is the Louisiana State Penitentiary which is also known as Angola. The facility is located on what used to be a plantation where slaves labored.

Now the mostly Black prison population spends their days often laboring as the slaves before they did in the fields. Many were just teenagers when they committed a horrendous crime for which they will most likely spend the rest of their lives at Angola.

In a moment of passion and rage, they did something that they will regret for the rest of their days. Some of the prisoners are in their seventies. They have been at the prison for 50 plus years.

The same thing is happening to young people today. They are ruining their lives in a moment when they make a rash and criminal decision. They act impulsively and may spend their lives in prison or they could receive the death penalty.

Protests turn deadly

After the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, protests broke out.

Two people were killed and another injured when violence erupted at a demonstration. There are numerous video clips of the young shooter at the scene with his rifle. Some show the shootings. He is too young to carry a gun legally in the open in Wisconsin.

Some altercations had occurred before the shootings. The two men who died seemed to be trying to defuse a dangerous situation of a young man with a gun. It does not appear that they were armed. The man who was injured may have had a handgun when he was shot.

The Kenosha police allowed the shooter to leave the scene even though he was holding a rifle. He apparently had his hands up seemingly to surrender. The police must have thought he was innocent and did not know that he had shot three men, two fatally. He was later arrested and charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18. The gun charge is a misdemeanor.

White conservative people were defending the teenager before he was charged. Defence funds have been established in his name.

Tim Balk in the Daily News on August 29, 2020, reported about a conservative group in Arizona which is raising funds for the shooter. He states about a tweet from the group:

“Half of all funds collected this semester for Republicans United will be donated to 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse legal defence fund,” College Republicans United tweeted. “He does not deserve to have his entire life destroyed because of the actions of violent anarchists during a lawless riot.”

It seems pretty obvious that a young man going to a demonstration with a rifle in plain view is looking for trouble. He surely knows right from wrong.

That is quite a stretch for the young shooter to claim self-defence. He appears to have gone there seeking to do some damage. He then shot three White men. The young shooter is being defended. Where is the outrage for the lives of the two men who were shot and killed?

Will there be justice?

[Source: Dateline NBC, Daily News, Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com]