Texts in which Kyle Rittenhouse allegedly claimed he wanted to kill Black Lives Matter rioters could be used in an ongoing lawsuit against him.
Rittenhouse’s former bodyguard, who claims to have the texts, has said he is prepared to work with John Huber, who is suing Rittenhouse for shooting his son dead at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020.
Rittenhouse gained notoriety in August 2020 when, at the age of 17, he shot and killed two men—Huber, 26 and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36 —as well as injuring 26-year-old Paul Prediger, then known as Gaige Grosskreutz, after rioting broke out following a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The 21-year-old said the three shootings, carried out with a semi-automatic AR-15-style firearm, were in self-defense.
Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges in November 2021, including charges of first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, and two charges of first-degree recklessly endangering safety. He later said he supported the BLM movement, adding that he was at the demonstration to “protect businesses and provide medical assistance.”
Rittenhouse, then 17, allegedly vowed to “murder” people he saw shoplifting at a local CVS Pharmacy two weeks before he shot the two people dead in Wisconsin, his former bodyguard, Dave Hancock, has claimed.
“I wish they would come into my house. I will f–king murder them,” another text allegedly read.
Kyle Rittenhouse on “Candace” on January 24, 2022 in Nashville. Rittenhouse has denied wrongdoing in a lawsuit taken by John Huber, the father of one of two men he shot dead at a Wisconsin Black Lives Matter protest in 2020.
Jason Davis/Getty Images
The allegations were made by Hancock, in The Trials of Kyle Rittenhouse, a 90-minute documentary, first broadcast on the Law & Crime Network on September 27.
Rittenhouse has become a cause celebre among gun rights advocates after the jury acquitted him of homicide charges.
Hancock said “he is prepared to work with the lawyers” handling Huber’s lawsuit, according to Law & Crime’s website.
Rittenhouse, while not addressing his former bodyguard’s claims directly, reasserted his innocence in the documentary.
“I was left with no other choice because I was surrounded and had nowhere to go and nowhere to run, I didn’t do anything wrong,” he told the documentary crew.
Rittenhouse’s lawyer, Mark Richards, told Law & Crime that he is not surprised that Hancock is willing to work with Huber.
“If Dave is providing info to Plaintiffs, it would not surprise me, he has been threatening to do this for quite some time,” Richards told Law & Crime. “He also told me he would give the phone back if Kyle paid $40K that he believes Kyle ‘owes’ him. Never a dull moment.”
“To say that Dave [Hancock] is a disgruntled former employee, spokesperson or fundraiser would be a major understatement,” Richards added.
Newsweek sought email comment from Richards, Huber and Hancock and from Rittenhouse, via Richards, on Tuesday.
A federal judge ruled in February that Huber’s wrongful death lawsuit could proceed.
John Huber is suing Rittenhouse and the Wisconsin police for the death of his son. The lawsuit alleges that Rittenhouse conspired with law enforcement to harm protestors. Huber is seeking unspecified damages from city officials, officers and Rittenhouse.
In February, Wisconsin federal judge, Lynn Adelman, dismissed motions filed by Rittenhouse and the police which were seeking to dismiss the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, initially filed by Huber in 2021, draws a link between Rittenhouse’s actions and those of law enforcement present at the scene of the protests.
The lawsuit accuses Kenosha police officers of allowing a dangerous situation that violated his son’s constitutional rights and resulted in his death. It also alleges that Rittenhouse conspired with officers to harm protestors.
Another Rittenhouse attorney, Shane Martin, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press in February: “While we respect the judge’s decision, we do not believe there is any evidence of a conspiracy and we are confident, just as a Kenosha jury found, Kyle’s actions that evening were not wrongful and were undertaken in self defense.”
Anthony Huber was among people who had gathered to protest the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white police officer. Rittenhouse testified that he went to the protests to protect private property and help as a medic.
During the protests, Rittenhouse—who was carrying an AR-15-style rifle—first shot 36-year-old Rosenbaum, who had approached him but was unarmed. After the first shooting, Rittenhouse ran towards the police line, but was chased by Huber, who took him to be an active shooter. Huber hit the teen with his skateboard, but was then shot dead by Rittenhouse.
Prediger, who was chasing Rittenhouse, was shot in the arm by the teen but survived. He is also suing Rittenhouse. Prediger, who was also armed, said he had his hands up in the air at the time.
Though Rittenhouse was found not guilty of five felony charges—the most serious of which was first-degree intentional homicide—in 2021 on the basis that he acted in self-defense, the civil case might reach a different verdict. The burden of proof is different in a civil case, where plaintiffs must prove their allegation by a preponderance of evidence instead of proving them beyond a reasonable doubt, as in criminal cases.
