Kyle Howard Rittenhouse (born January 3, 2003) is an American man who gained national attention at age 17 for shooting three men in Kenosha, Wisconsin, two fatally, amid protests and riots in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in 2020.
After joining a group of armed individuals who said they were protecting businesses against rioting, a series of confrontations occurred, during which Rittenhouse fatally shot two men who attempted to grab his gun and wounded another who pointed a handgun at him. He was charged with multiple counts, including homicide, by Kenosha County prosectors, but was acquitted in November 2021 after a jury found he acted in self-defense. Two civil lawsuits against him were pending
Rittenhouse's prosecution attracted widespread media coverage. Following his acquittal, he attended several events hosted by conservative organizations and individuals, including a meeting with President Donald Trump, interviews with political commentator Tucker Carlson, and guest appearances at several Turning Point USA productions. His image was widely circulated and used in political messaging by both supporters and critics, becoming an internet meme and appearing on commercial products. Several proposed laws were named after him, he was offered several internships by Republican politicians, and he appeared in a video game.
Since his trial, Rittenhouse has started a gun rights YouTube channel and raised money for unspecified defamation lawsuits against media companies.
Early life and education Kyle Howard Rittenhouse was born on January 3, 2003, in Antioch, Illinois, to Michael and Wendy Rittenhouse. His parents were married in Lake County, Illinois, in February 2000, three years before his birth. He has two siblings, an older sister and a younger sister. His parents separated by 2014, when Michael was sued for child support.
As a high school freshman, Rittenhouse participated in the Explorers program at the Grayslake Police Department, as well as a cadet program at the Antioch Fire Department, with the goal of becoming a paramedic or working in law enforcement. Eventually transitioning to online school, he dropped out and left Lakes Community High School altogether in 2018 after attending for one semester in 2017–2018.
Rittenhouse expressed interest in law enforcement through publicly viewable social media posts. In December 2018, he started a fundraiser through Facebook for Humanizing the Badge, a nonprofit. Rittenhouse also expressed support for Blue Lives Matter and the Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign on various social media platforms, including TikTok and Facebook.
On January 30, 2020, Rittenhouse attended a Trump rally in Des Moines, Iowa, seated in the front row. Rittenhouse attempted to join the US Marine Corps that same month, but he was disqualified from serving by recruiters. He got a part-time job as a lifeguard at the YMCA in Lindenhurst, but he was furloughed in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began and many public facilities were shut down.
Kenosha unrest shooting
In late August 2020, 17-year-old Rittenhouse traveled from Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to help protect local businesses, in the wake of protests against the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer. On August 25, 2020, Rittenhouse was armed with an AR-15–style rifle and shot three men during the civil unrest in Kenosha. Photographic evidence reveals that, prior to unrest unfolding, Rittenhouse and others had participated in cleaning graffiti from a high school close to the Kenosha County Courthouse.
After Joseph Rosenbaum chased and cornered Rittenhouse in a dealership parking lot and grabbed the barrel of his rifle, Rittenhouse fatally shot him, soon after Joshua Ziminski had fired a shot nearby. Rittenhouse fled and was pursued by a crowd. He fatally shot a second man, Anthony Huber, who struck Rittenhouse with a skateboard and tried to grab his rifle in a brief struggle. Afterwards, Gaige Grosskreutz approached Rittenhouse and pointed a pistol at him. Rittenhouse shot and wounded Grosskreutz in the right arm. Rittenhouse ultimately walked towards officers with his hands raised, was not contacted by police at the scene, and turned himself in the next day.
Criminal trial At a criminal trial in Kenosha in November 2021, prosecutors argued that Rittenhouse was seen as an active shooter and had provoked the other participants. Defense lawyers argued that he had acted in self-defense, stating that he used the force necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself. Legal experts said that, under Wisconsin law, carrying a gun and any motives for being there would not preclude a self-defense claim, but why the defendant was present would still be a factor in the trial.
A jury weighed two counts of homicide, one count of attempted homicide, and two counts of reckless endangerment, and found Rittenhouse not guilty on all charges. Public sentiment and media coverage of the shootings was polarized and politicized. An Economist/YouGov poll found that two-thirds of Republicans thought Rittenhouse should be acquitted while three-quarters of Democrats thought he should be convicted.
Civil litigation Rittenhouse was named as a defendant in two civil lawsuits following the incident.
In August 2021, the family of Anthony Huber filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of Wisconsin against the police and county sheriff's departments in Kenosha. The family added Rittenhouse as a named defendant in January 2022. Despite Rittenhouse's attempts to evade being served, a federal judge ruled in 2023 that the case against him could proceed. In 2024 the judge ordered the Kenosha police department to search computers that may contain pertinent squad car videos.
In February 2023, Gaige Grosskreutz added Rittenhouse as a named defendant to a lawsuit filed in federal court in October 2021. In April 2023, Rittenhouse countersued Grosskreutz.
As of July 2025, the cases by Huber and Grosskreutz had been combined and were still in discovery.
Media appearances After the acquittal, Rittenhouse was sought for media appearances through July 2022, and attended a number of Republican and conservative events described as a public relations campaign and publicity tour. During the tour, he was represented by publicist Jillian Anderson, a former contestant on season 19 of the reality TV show The Bachelor. A picture of the two released on November 22, 2021, went viral on social media.
Tucker Carlson projects A film crew for Tucker Carlson and Fox Nation followed Rittenhouse during the trial for a documentary feature, against the advice of Rittenhouse's attorneys.
Carlson of Fox News held an exclusive interview with Rittenhouse for Tucker Carlson Tonight immediately following his acquittal. Two days later on November 22, 2021, the hour-long episode titled "The Kyle Rittenhouse Interview" released, where Carlson interviewed him about a wide range of subjects. In the interview, Rittenhouse said he would eventually like to become a lawyer or nurse. He also said that he supported the Black Lives Matter movement and "peacefully demonstrating". Carlson introduced Rittenhouse as "bright, decent, sincere, dutiful, and hardworking... exactly the kind of person you would want many more of in your country." The episode was the second-most watched since the show's premiere in 2016, following the episode on the January 6 United States Capitol attack earlier in 2021. It was watched by 4.942 million viewers (up from the show's average of 3.16 million viewers) and had more than four times the viewers of any other network, leading TheWrap to state that the interview "crushed the rest of cable news" on the night it aired. Lorraine Ali of the Los Angeles Times said the interview "canonized" Rittenhouse while categorizing it as an overly sympathetic "soft ball" interview. Rittenhouse and Fox News both denied he was compensated in any way for the interview.
Meeting with President Trump President Donald Trump announced on Sean Hannity's show that Rittenhouse had requested a meeting, saying, "He called. He wanted to know if he could come over, say hello, because he was a fan." Rittenhouse, his mother, and Trump met at Mar-a-Lago, the same day the Tucker Carlson Tonight interview aired on November 22, 2021. Trump called him "really a nice young man," and the two were photographed together.
Turning Point USA events
Rittenhouse has appeared at several events run by Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit organization, including a panel called "Kenosha on Camera" at Turning Point USA's conservative youth conference AmericaFest in December 2021. Held on the third day of the conference on December 20, the panel consisted of Rittenhouse, Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobiec, Elijah Schaffer, and Drew Hernandez. During the panel, Rittenhouse said, "I think my trial was an example of them trying to come after our Second Amendment rights, our right to defend ourselves and trying to take our weapons." Kirk described him as a "hero to millions," and the crowd gave him a standing ovation after chanting his name. The organization arranging the event said Rittenhouse was not compensated for the 45-minute panel appearance.
Rittenhouse also appeared onstage at a Turning Point Young Women's Leadership Summit in 2022, introduced as "the kind of man you should want to be attracted to" who would "protect [his] family" and "stand strong in the face of opposition from culture and evil".
Podcasts Rittenhouse has been a guest on several podcasts, including the Blaze Media project You Are Here, hosted by Elijah Schaffer and Sydney Watson, where Rittenhouse said going to protests was "not the best idea." He also appeared on The Jenna Ellis Show, hosted by former Trump staffer Jenna Ellis. On that show, he expressed fear of harassment and said he was afraid to run errands. He denied being a racist, domestic terrorist, or white supremacist, saying he had been attacked by those who described him in these terms. Rittenhouse also said he had reached out to President Joe Biden several times but had not received a response, adding, "He still hasn't replied. So it just shows how much of a man he is to not sit down and talk."
In February 2026 Rittenhouse was the first guest on Steve Gruber's newly-launched podcast Forgotten America, where the discussion covered "media narratives, public scrutiny, and the long-term consequences of becoming a national headline".
Commercialization and use of his image While campaigning for president in 2020, Biden used images of Rittenhouse in a campaign video he tweeted the day after the September 29 presidential debate. The BBC wrote the video "appeared to link Rittenhouse, without any evidence, to white supremacists." Rittenhouse said using his image and linking him to white supremacy was "actual malice, defaming my character, for him to say something like that." Charles Homans, writing for The New York Times, reported that Rittenhouse was adopted as an informal mascot of the Proud Boys and was photographed surrounded by members of the group after he was released on bond.
Right-wing memes using Rittenhouse's image have spread on social media. In a study of his image being used as a meme on Twitter, the Global Network on Extremism and Technology found thousands of instances of Rittenhouse's face and commentary on his actions shared through a variety of different hashtags. Multiple political figures have shared those memes, including Donald Trump Jr. and Barry Moore. In March 2022, Rittenhouse shared a meme of himself crying while on the witness stand during his trial, edited to appear like he was crying about rising gas prices, which he tweeted was "thanks to a Joe Biden presidency".