Lawyer for Kenosha shooter claims protesters were 'relentlessly hunting him as prey'

Stephen Proctor
Updated ·2 min read

John Pierce, attorney for Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old Illinois resident charged with murder in the Aug. 25 shooting deaths of two protesters in Kenosha, Wis., joined Tucker Carlson Tonight on Monday and claimed that the protesters were “hunting” his client. Rittenhouse was one of many armed right-wing activists who went to Kenosha amid demonstrations protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot seven times in the back by a police officer. Though Rittenhouse was in possession of a large rifle, Pierce claimed that the protesters were the aggressors. Pierce claimed that protesters had become enraged that Rittenhouse was trying to put out fires that they’d set.

“The mob became enraged,” Pierce said. “They began screaming that Kyle needed to be killed and they were going to kill him. They started relentlessly hunting him as prey as he ran down the street attempting to retreat.”

Video filmed by witnesses show Rittenhouse being chased down and shooting two more people, killing one, after he’d killed the first victim, Joseph Rosenbaum. Pierce defended Rittenhouse, as President Trump had done earlier in the day, saying that the first killing was self-defense, though witnesses who were there tell a different story.

“Mr. Rosenbaum, who was leading the attack on him, set upon him immediately,” Pierce said, “began to assault him from behind, attempted to take his weapon, take his firearm, and Kyle, when he turned, he instantaneously had no choice but to defend himself by firing because he was in imminent danger of serious bodily harm or death.”

In fact, Pierce claimed that Rittenhouse went to Kenosha with the intention of helping protesters.

“Kyle actually took a first aid kit downtown because he was concerned that there would be wounded protesters downtown,” Pierce said, “and in fact, he took a firearm because Kenosha had become a war zone.”

While Pierce, who recently co-founded a nonprofit to rally against the “radical left,” argues that Rittenhouse has done nothing wrong, he believes that others should be charged for the violence that occurred that night.

“Where are the charges for aggravated assault against Kyle Rittenhouse?” Pierce asked. “Where are the charges for arson in our cities? Where are the charges for rioting? Where are the charges for crossing state lines?”

And Pierce jumped onboard with an emerging conspiracy theory, adding, “And where are the charges against the people who are funding this activity, and who are financing it?”

Tucker Carlson Tonight airs weeknights at 8 p.m. on Fox News Channel.

Watch John Oliver slam Tucker Carlson for defending the Kenosha shooter and question if Trump’s rhetoric played a part:

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