Kyle Rittenhouse told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday night that he plans to “lay low” and enjoy his life as much as possible after being acquitted of all charges in his murder trial last week.
Rittenhouse said that he does not plan to stay in the Midwest and is potentially considering moving to Florida.
Rittenhouse said that while he projects calmness on the outside, on the inside, he was “freaking out” over the events of the last year.
When asked by Carlson if he feels like he’s been “watched over” as his case progressed over the last year, Rittenhouse responded, “I believe God’s been on my side from the beginning.”
WATCH:
CARLSON: Do you feel like you've been watched over?
RITTENHOUSE: I believe God has been on my side from the beginning pic.twitter.com/NXQONBG1r4
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) November 23, 2021
A jury found Rittenhouse not guilty of murder on Friday afternoon for fatally shooting two men and injuring a third during riots last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The Daily Wire reported:
Rittenhouse, who is now 18, lives in Antioch, a northern suburb of Chicago about 15 miles from Kenosha. On August 25 of last year when he was 17, Rittenhouse decided to patrol the downtown Kenosha area alongside other armed men in order to protect a used car dealership from looting and vandalism. The city had devolved into rioting over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man, by a white Kenosha police officer.
Rittenhouse took a medical kit and armed himself with a Smith & Wesson M&P15, which is an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle that police say his friend illegally bought for him.
While guarding the used car dealership, he was chased by protesters and ended up fatally shooting two people, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and injuring a third, Gaige Grosskreutz. The defendant and the three men he shot are all white.
He was arrested and charged with five felony charges and one misdemeanor charge. The most serious charge was intentional homicide, Wisconsin’s top murder charge, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The others were reckless homicide, attempted homicide, two counts of reckless endangerment, and being a minor illegally in possession of a firearm.
On Monday, the judge dismissed the misdemeanor firearm charge, which was considered the easiest charge for the state to prove. Previously, Rittenhouse was also charged with violating curfew, but that charge was dismissed last week by the judge as well.
TRANSCRIPT:
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Yes. I mean, looking back, it’s been, you know, year and a half, less than even. This is not the life that you planned, obviously.
KYLE RITTENHOUSE: No. It is far from the life I planned. This is — this is something that I wish never would have happened, but it did and we can’t change that. But how it’s been so — how it polarized — how polarized it became is absolutely sickening, like, right or left people using me for a cause that should never have been used as a cause.
CARLSON: I read that you’re not going to stay in the Midwest.
RITTENHOUSE: I’m not. I’m going to find somewhere to live. Before this, I actually wanted to move to Naples, Florida.
CARLSON: Yes.
RITTENHOUSE: And then this happened, but I don’t know where I’m going to go. I’m going to go lay low and live — live my life and enjoy it.
CARLSON: Why are you so calm?
RITTENHOUSE: I’m a naturally calm person. I don’t find — I find it to be a problem when people are overreacting because things are out of our control. So, I try not to deal with that.
CARLSON: Hmm, I mean, just for the —
RITTENHOUSE: Believe me, on the inside, I’m freaking out.
CARLSON: Well, you must be. I mean, for the record. We’re — know, you’ve just got acquitted.
RITTENHOUSE: Yes.
CARLSON: I mean, like two days ago.
RITTENHOUSE: Yes.
CARLSON: That was the first thing I noticed that you seem very calm. You don’t seem like someone who’s just been through, you know, had his mind blown.
RITTENHOUSE: Yes, in the inside are freaking out, but the best thing you do, you freak out, everybody else freaks out. It’s like a chain reaction.
CARLSON: Yes.
RITTENHOUSE: So the best thing I can do is stay calm.
CARLSON: Do you feel like you’ve been watched over?
RITTENHOUSE: I believe God’s been on my side from the beginning.