The girlfriend of one of the men who was fatally shot by Kyle Rittenhouse has said she has "a lot of sympathy" for the teenager, more than a year after the killing.
Rittenhouse, now 18, fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and injured Gaige Grosskreutz on August 25, 2020, during protests which took place in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The demonstrations took place after a white police officer shot and partially paralyzed Jacob Blake two days earlier.
The teen, who was just 17 at the time of the incident, is currently awaiting a verdict following a murder trial, which began on November 1.
Rittenhouse is charged with five felonies; first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
He claims he had traveled to Kenosha to protect businesses and prevent mayhem in the city.
However, on Thursday, November 18, amid his murder trial, 25-year-old Hannah Gittings said in an interview with the New York Post that she doesn't believe Rittenhouse, who shot dead her 26-year-old boyfriend Anthony Huber, was at the protests purely in order to protect his community.
Gittings said: "If these people had just done what they said they were going to be doing, standing outside of the property making sure nobody was ruining these buildings and businesses whatever, that’s cool, but you weren’t."
She said: "This kid was walking around like hot s***, looking for a reason to say, ‘Oh I gotta do something about this.’"
Gittings believes that the young man got caught up in the idea of being a vigilante, saying: "I do have a lot of sympathy for this kid because he is just a kid to me so it was just like a really dumb*** kid who unfortunately became the figurehead for this."
She added: "Kenosha also needs to be held responsible for allowing this militia to show up and do exactly what they came here to do. You are not going to tell me that these mother******* did not know that this militia was here. You’re not gonna tell me that."
Gittings' comments come as the nation awaits the verdict, with deliberations continuing.
