Prosecutors: No Ill. gun charges for teen accused in Kenosha shootings

CHICAGO — Kyle Rittenhouse will not face gun charges in Illinois related to the AR-15-style weapon he is charged with using to kill two men and wound a third during violent protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

An Antioch police investigation found that the Smith & Wesson .223 caliber rifle “was purchased, stored and used in Wisconsin” and turned up no evidence the 17-year-old “physically possessed” the weapon in Illinois, according to a news release from the office of Lake County State’s Attorney Mike Nerheim. The news release does not reveal who is believed to have bought or held the gun before the shooting.

The Antioch teen, however, still faces a gun charge in Wisconsin, as Kenosha County prosecutors have charged him with possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18, a misdemeanor. His attorney,

John M. Pierce argued on Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s show in late August that the charge is “incorrect as a matter of state law” and that the U.S. Constitution and federal law protect the teen’s right to have the gun, though he did not go into detail on that legal argument.

Little has been made public about the gun’s history or the teen’s potential licensure to have firearms, so it’s unclear what — if any — charges Rittenhouse or anyone else might have faced here if the investigation had found he possessed it locally.

Antioch police could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Pierce, declined to comment.

Along with the gun charge, Kenosha County prosecutors have charged him with murder and other counts alleging he shot three men with the rifle Aug. 25 during violent protests over white police Officer Rusten Sheskey’s shooting of 29year-old Black man Jacob Blake a couple of days earlier.