Photos appear to show accused Kenosha, Wisconsin, shooter Kyle Rittenhouse posing with members of the Proud Boys neo-fascist gang and flashing the white power “OK” sign at a bar this month while he was free on bail. (See the images in the news segment above.)
Rittenhouse, 18, visited Pudgy’s Pub in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, with his mother on Jan. 5 ― the day he pleaded not guilty to first-degree intentional homicide in the shooting deaths of two men at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha last summer, according to prosecutors. The DA now wants to tighten the teen’s bail conditions.
In his 90 minutes at the bar, Rittenhouse was loudly serenaded by his hate group admirers with “Proud of Your Boy,” an “Aladdin” song co-opted by the gang as its anthem, WTMJ in Milwaukee reported.
After viewing the surveillance footage, the Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office requested additional restrictions to Rittenhouse’s $2 million bail, according to CNN. They include prohibiting him from making “white supremacy” signs, having contact with members of white supremacist groups such as the Proud Boys, and drinking alcohol. (He was legally consuming beer at the bar because his mother was there, according to Wisconsin law.)
“The defendant’s continued association with members of a group that prides itself on violence, and the use of their symbols, raises the significant possibility of future harm,” prosecutors wrote, per WTMJ. “Further, this association may serve to intimidate potential witnesses, who may be unwilling to testify in this case because they may fear that the defendant’s associates with harm them or their families.”
Defense attorney Mark Richards did not object to bail restrictions on hate groups or drinking in a response filed Thursday. However, he said there is “no information linking” Rittenhouse to the Proud Boys or any white supremacist group, the Kenosha News reported.
“The state’s bond motion is a not-so-thinly veiled attempt to interject the issue of race into a case that is about a person’s right to self defense,” the lawyer said.
Rittenhouse joined militia members and others in taking up arms during the Kenosha protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Defense lawyers claim Rittenhouse shot two demonstrators to death and wounded a third in self-defense.
His arrest has turned him into a symbol for the far-right, and he has received support from actor Ricky Schroder.
This article has been updated to include a response from Rittenhouse’s attorney.