Prosecutors allege Rittenhouse, who is white, left his home in Antioch, Illinois, and traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, after learning of a call for militia to protect businesses in that city on Aug. 25. Kenosha was in the throes of several nights of chaotic street demonstrations after a white officer shot Jacob Blake, who is Black, in the back during domestic disturbance, leaving Blake paralyzed.
Rittenhouse opened fire with an assault-style rifle during the protest that night, killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz. Rittenhouse has argued he fired in self-defense. Conservatives have rallied around him, generating enough money to make his $2 million cash bail.