Kyle Rittenhouse bond set at $2M after Kenosha, Wisconsin court appearance on protest shooting charges

Kenosha protest shootings occurred in wake of Jacob Blake police shooting

ByABC 7 Chicago Digital Team WLS logo
Monday, November 2, 2020
Gaige Grosskreutz, the man who survived a shooting by Kyle Rittenhouse that left two others dead has filed a secret petition to change his legal name.

KENOSHA, Wis. (WLS) -- Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois accused of shooting and killing two people during protests in Kenosha, appeared in a Wisconsin court for the first time Monday.

Monday's hearing was held by video conference. It came after a judge in Illinois ruled last Friday to extradite Rittenhouse to Kenosha.

At the hearing Monday, a date for a preliminary hearing for Rittenhouse was scheduled for December 3 and bond was set at $2 million.

RELATED: Alleged Kenosha shooter claims he was hired as security, told police where to find gun used in fatal shootings

Rittenhouse is accused of shooting three protestors, killing two of them, in Kenosha in August after the Jacob Blake shooting by Kenosha police.

Rittenhouse faces first-degree intentional homicide charges, attempted intentional homicide charge as well as a misdemeanor charge of underage firearm possession.

RELATED: Kyle Rittenhouse, Antioch teen charged with murder in Kenosha protest shooting, listed as 'hero' in school assignment

Kyle Rittenhouse's defense team released a statement Friday saying that what the 17-year-old did is a clear-cut case of self defense.

The case has been in the national spotlight. Conservatives say Rittenhouse was exercising his right to bear arms during unrest in Kenosha following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, while others are calling him a domestic terrorist.

The killings occurred Aug. 25, two days after a police officer trying to arrest Jacob Blake shot him seven times in the back after a brief scuffle, leaving Blake paralyzed from the waist down. A video of the shooting posted online sparked outrage and helped spur on the protests.

Rittenhouse and the man he allegedly injured are white, as were the two men killed.

WATCH: What Antioch teen said just before deadly Kenosha protest shooting

New video shows Kyle Rittenhouse being interviewed by an independent journalist the same night he allegedly opened fire on protesters in Kenosha.

A day after the shooting, Rittenhouse surrendered to police in his Illinois hometown of Antioch, just across the Wisconsin border and some 10 miles (16.09 kilometers) southwest of Kenosha.

According to police records, Rittenhouse said he was hit in the head and neck with a baseball bat and skateboard. Medics found small scratches on his arm, but no bruising or cuts.

Rittenhouse also told police that the firearm he used was in the trunk of his friend's car, parked at the Rittenhouse's family apartment in Antioch.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.