Popular 1980s sitcom "Silver Spoons" actor Ricky Schroder was photographed with Kyle Rittenhouse after helping the accused Kenosha shooter with $150,000 for his bail. The Illinois teen was released on Friday after his legal team posted a bail of $2 million.
Schroder, 50, posed with a smiling 17-year-old Rittenhouse and lawyer John Pierce hours after the teen was released. The photo was shared on Twitter by attorney L. Lin Wood of Atlanta, who is a part of Rittenhouse's defense team.
Rittenhouse, a native of Antioch, was arrested and charged in August fatally shooting two Black Lives Matter protesters — Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber — and injuring a third victim — Gaige Grosskreutz — in Wisconsin's Kenosha. The teen, who will be tried as an adult, was armed with an AR-15 rifle and called himself a militia member who sought to protect businesses in Kenosha during the protests in the wake of Jacob Blake's shooting by Wisconsin police.
On Thursday, Rittenhouse told the Washington Post that he cashed a coronavirus stimulus to buy the semi-automatic gun, which he used to shoot the protesters. Under Wisconsin law, minors are allowed to carry or possess a gun only if they are hunting. The teen made one of his friends buy the rifle for him.
"I got my $1,200 from the coronavirus Illinois unemployment because I was on furlough from YMCA, and I got my first unemployment check, so I was like, 'Oh, I'll use this to buy it,'" Rittenhouse said from jail, adding that he did not regret his actions and that he acted in self-defense.
Rittenhouse's case divided Americans with conservatives hailing him as a hero and others calling him a criminal. Conservative Christians and Republicans started fundraising campaigns to raise money for his defense team. Many of his supporters believed he acted in self-defense and said he was "unfairly" charged for his crimes.
Rittenhouse's preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 3.
