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The Wisconsin State Crime Lab has destroyed the rifle Kyle Rittenhouse used to shoot three people during an August 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, according to authorities.
The Kenosha Police Department first told FOX 6 Milwaukee that the rifle was destroyed at the crime lab on Feb. 25, 2022 — about four months after the 19-year-old was acquitted of five charges, including reckless and intentional homicide charges, in November 2021.
Video footage from the department shows officers putting the rifle and its components through a GunBusters firearms pulverizer. Remnants of the destroyed firearm are discarded into a bucket beneath the machine.
On Jan. 28, Judge Bruce Schroeder approved an agreement from attorneys to destroy the rifle, and Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger said the state would destroy the weapon, the outlet reported.
KYLE RITTENHOUSE HEADS TO COURT TO GET GUNS USED IN SHOOTINGS BACK
Rittenhouse’s attorney, Mark Richards, filed a motion Jan. 19 asking prosecutors to return Rittenhouse’s rifle, his ammunition, his face mask and other clothing he was wearing the night of the shooting to him.
Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger holds Kyle Rittenhouse’s gun as he gives the state’s closing argument in Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., on Monday, Nov. 15, 2021. (Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool_File)
(Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool_File)
Richards and Hancock, a family spokesman, has said Rittenhouse wants the weapon and clothing he wore from that night destroyed so that neither can’t be used as a symbol to “celebrate” the shootings that left Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber dead and Gaige Grosskreutz wounded.
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The then-18-year-old’s attorneys argued during his trial that he was acting in self-defense when he shot Rosenbaum, Huber and Grosskreutz.
The verdict sparked debate over gun laws, self-defense and criminal justice. Protests erupted in major cities across the United States following his acquittal.
Fox News’ Brie Stimson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
