On Tuesday night, a boy named Kyle decided to make the 30-minute trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin, not far from his hometown of Antioch, Illinois. Antioch is just south of the Wisconsin border, about halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Kyle lived there with his mom in a small apartment near a park. He apparently dropped out of high school not too long ago.
I imagine Kyle had a bedroom, like most 17 year old boys do, decorated with posters of his heroes, or his favorite bands, or whatever. Maybe he had some pot or some booze stashed in a drawer, or maybe those things did not interest him at all. Maybe he owned a Bible and some comic books.
Sadly, Kyle likely will never see that bedroom again. He may never step foot in Antioch again. Right now, he’s in a juvenile detention center in Lake County, Illinois, awaiting extradition to Wisconsin.
Two people died and another was shot in Kenosha on Tuesday night. And Kyle Rittenhouse has been charged with multiple felonies, including two counts of first degree murder. Conviction could lead to life in prison. He allegedly killed a 26-year-old man and a 36-year-old man, and shot another. Two lives ended and one upended, it seems, by a baby-faced 17-year-old with a rifle. Reportedly, after Kyle shot his first victim, he was pursued by others trying to gain the police’s attention to have him apprehended. He tripped and fell, and he flailed around in the middle of a street pulling the trigger of a gun the others may have been trying to take away. At least that’s the picture painted, so far, by the many video accounts of Kyle’s night.
Kyle went to Kenosha Tuesday night, he’d tell you, to help bring law and order to that town. After a Black man was shot seven times in the back by a police officer over the weekend, Kenosha took center stage, adding another city’s name to 2020’s infamy. On cue, protests and chaos and violence followed the shooting, along with the predictable revelation a half-beat later of details about the victim of the shooting – a man named Jacob Blake. He had a knife, or was reaching for one. He had a rap sheet. He was resisting arrest.
It took seven shots, apparently, for multiple police officers to prevent whatever mayhem Blake was about to inflict on them as his three children sat in his car. In time, the shooting of Jacob Blake will be investigated and debated and will divide us some more. He was a thug who brought it on himself by resisting. Or he was another victim of regrettably inept policing, or worse. Those cases will be made. Americans won’t agree. These days, Americans never agree.
It’s almost a certainty Kyle did not know his victims. It’s almost a certainty that he did not hate his victims. To someone like Kyle, Kenosha was tantalizingly close – an attractive nuisance, you might say (if you completed a first-year law school curriculum). Kyle believed he had a job to do. I mean – he really believed he had a job do. A website, The Daily Caller, interviewed a young man identified as Kyle on the streets of Kenosha before the shooting, in front of a boarded-up business.
“So people are getting injured, and our job is to protect this business,” the young man said. “And part of my job is to also help people. If there is somebody hurt, I’m running into harm’s way. That’s why I have my rifle — because I can protect myself, obviously. But I also have my med kit.”
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/who-is-kyle-rittenhouse-what-we-know-about-the-17-year-old-arrested-in-kenosha-shooting/2329610/
I suspect the idea of injecting himself into the chaos of Kenosha was irresistible. You see, Kyle had a deep respect for law enforcement and had even participated in programs for aspiring policemen. He wanted to be a Marine. He wanted to help. He wanted to protect property that was not his, in a town that was not his, in a state that was not his. And, of course, Kyle had guns and ammo, if not training or experience or any legal authority to participate in keeping the peace. And, as far as I can tell, Kyle was not promised a wage for his help, and his only reward that night was a thank you from the police, who offered water to Kyle and others toting guns, and told them they were appreciated.
If you are interested, you can watch Kyle’s night unfold on video here. Or read a little bit more about his background here.
So Many Questions
I typically sleep like a rock. When I was a kid myself – maybe 10 years old – a coach house on the alley of the narrow lot immediately next to my house caught on fire, so close that the flames charred our detached garage, which stood maybe six feet from the burning building. Multiple fire trucks were parked no more than 50 feet from my bedroom window and fire fighters shuffled up and down our driveway. I did not stir until someone came in and woke me from my slumber. Storms, barking dogs. I am pretty much impervious to all of it if I am sleeping.
Until 2020. Since March, I’ve awoken at night dozens of time – easily more this year than in all the nights of the balance of my adult life combined. Some might say my shrinking bladder has something to do with it, but that’s not fair to my bladder – it is holding up fairly well. Put simply, this year has been chock full of stuff that has had me rattled. I worry more than ever – about a whole lot of things, big and small – and worrying really isn’t my thing.
Early Thursday morning, I woke up again. This time, I was thinking about Kyle.
So many questions.
Did Kyle play Call of Duty, like my boys did when they were his age? Did Kyle imagine himself in a real-life video game Tuesday night as he roamed the streets of Kenosha with his rifle? Where did he get the rifle? Who suggested that he throw himself into the mess that was Kenosha on Tuesday night? Was he invited? Did he go as a member of a group of like-minded keepers-of-the-peace? Was he a militia member? How does one become a militia member?
How did Kyle get to Kenosha? Did he have a driver’s license? When he said, “I just killed somebody” on his mobile phone (a moment captured on video), who was on the other end? Was it his mom? A friend? Did Kyle have many friends? Any friends?
Lots of questions, no answers.
And then I thought of the pictures I had seen of Kyle, like the ones reproduced in this post. Just a kid. And I thought, did he play Little League baseball a few years ago? Did he ride bikes with his friends? Does he shave yet? Did he dream of having a family? And kids? Where did he learn to shoot guns? Who taught him to assemble and disassemble and clean his rifle? Where is his dad? Does he have siblings? Did any of the police he encountered on Tuesday night think it odd that a kid was walking around Kenosha toting an AR-15?
More questions, no answers.
And I also found myself asking questions that I’ve asked – in some form or another – over and over this year. What happened? What exactly is going on in this country? When did it become okay for ordinary citizens to arm themselves and take the job of law enforcement into their own hands? Is this a thing now? Has this always been a thing?
My curiosity not quite quenched, I read more about Kyle yesterday. Some answers, and more questions. I suspect there will always be more questions, and fewer answers.
And then I read about Brian Urlacher. Yes – that Brian Urlacher. Number 54. Hall-of-Fame linebacker. For a time, my favorite Chicago Bear and the anchor of its defense for a decade. The guy whose mug and scalp adorn billboard after billboard on Interstate 294, hawking a hair restoration procedure for which he is, literally, the poster child. Apparently, Urlacher “liked” a post on Instagram of an image of Kyle Rittenhouse “walking the Kenosha streets with his rifle in tow. … accompanied by emphatic text: “FREE KYLE RITTENHOUSE!!!! Patriot Lives Matter!!!” Oh, and for good measure Urlacher was critical of NBA players for refusing to play Wednesday night in the wake of the Blake shooting. Yes, Brian Urlacher is entitled to his opinions, freedom of speech is the bedrock of this country. But … really? Does he really agree with the sentiment that Kyle Rittenhouse is a patriot?
I could go on about social media and mainstream media reactions to Kyle’s night. Others have said some pretty remarkable things in the wake of Rittenhouse’s arrest. Between cable news and social media, one thing is certain: the commentary that follows tragic events in America only serves to illustrate our differences. Over and over, I think – surely no one can put a spin on this news. And spin, they do. And by they, I mean to exclude no one.
But that’s a point for another (long) post. I want to get back to Kyle, and to my questions.
Was he living out a fantasy Tuesday night? Was he heeding a call? Did he believe he was a soldier? Did he believe he was a patriot?
Does he have a grandmother or grandfather? Are they devastated? If he is indeed the killer, does he feel remorse? Did he accomplish his mission in Kenosha? Does he wish he had stayed at home?
Did he feel a rush of adrenaline Tuesday night when the police told him he was appreciated and threw him water? Did he feel a rush of adrenaline when he fired his gun at real, live people? Was it his first time?
Does he realize, now, he might never again feel the rush of adrenaline he felt Tuesday night? Does Kyle realize that he just might spend the rest of his life behind bars?
And how many Kyles are out there? How many kids in America see a future only by peering down the barrel of a gun?
Kyle’s family. The families of his victims. The future of America. No winners. No answers. Just questions.
