A GoFundMe-style crowd-funding site called Give Send Go has raised more than $200,000 for Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two protestors last week.
As of this writing, the fundraiser has raised nearly $269,000 for the 17-year-old murder suspect, who donors are calling a hero.
The fundraiser, titled "Raise money for Kyle Rittenhouse Legal Defense," lauds Rittenhouse as "brave" and portrays the murders as having been committed in self-defense.
"Kyle Rittenhouse just defended himself from a brutal attack by multiple members of the far-leftist group ANTIFA – the experience was undoubtedly a brutal one, as he was forced to take two lives to defend his own."
"Now, Kyle is being unfairly charged with murder 1, by a DA who seems determined only to capitalize on the political angle of the situation. The situation was clearly self-defense, and Kyle and his family will undoubtedly need money to pay for the legal fees."
"Let's give back to someone who bravely tried to defend his community."
The facts stated in the fundraiser, however, are nearly all incorrect or heavily disputed.
Rittenhouse was not defending "his community," but rather traveled to Kenosha from his home in Antioch, Illinois to defend businesses threatened during the protests. He came armed with a semi-automatic weapon, an AR-15, which is illegal for persons under the age of 18 in Wisconsin.
ANTIFA is not a "far-leftist group" as the fundraiser states, or even a group at all, in fact; it is merely an anti-fascist ideology. (The word ANTIFA itself is simply shorthand for "anti-fascist.")
Most importantly, videos of the shootings show protestors not attacking Rittenhouse, but rather struggling to subdue him and get control of Rittenhouse's semi-automatic weapon after he opened fire on his first victim.
And while one protestor pursuing Rittenhouse does appear to be brandishing a handgun--a weapon far smaller and less powerful than Rittenhouse's AR-15--one of Rittenhouse's victims was armed only with a skateboard.
Throughout the videos, Kenosha police are never seen attempting to subdue Rittenhouse, but are heard thanking him.
On Twitter, people were outraged by the fundraiser and the Christians lionizing Rittenhouse as a hero.
Rittenhouse is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, the Wisconsin equivalent of first-degree murder, first-degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18, and two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment.
If convicted of murder he will face a mandatory life sentence.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram