Kyle Rittenhouse, Acquitted For Homicide, Said Visiting Kenosha 'Not Best Idea'

KENOSHA, WI — Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted in the of killing two protesters in Kenosha in 2020, said it was "probably not the best idea," to travel to the city from Illinois. Rittenhouse made the remarks in a podcast interview posted Monday.

"Hindsight being 20-20, probably not the best idea to go down there, can't change that." Rittenhouse said in an interview on the "You Are Here" podcast. "But I defended myself and that's what happened."

“If I could go back, I wish I would never have had to take somebody’s life,” he added. Rittenhouse also said that didn't want to be congratulated for the shootings.

The 18-year-old said in a separate podcast interview that he wanted to have the AR-15-style rifle he used that night to be destroyed, reported NBC News.

Rittenhouse said he's "not a racist" and that his case had nothing to do about race, but self-defense, in a separate interview in November with Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson.

Rittenhouse had enrolled in nursing classes as a non-degree seeking students at Arizona State University but he is no longer enrolled there and had not gone through the official admissions process.

Rittenhouse was acquitted of first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide, two counts of recklessly endangering safety and attempted first-degree homicide by a jury on Nov. 19. He maintained that he defended himself when he shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 28.

Protests in Kenosha started after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white police officer. The officer was cleared of wrongdoing by investigators and Blake was left partially paralyzed.

Read More At Patch

• Rittenhouse No longer Enrolled In Classes At ASU
• Rittenhouse Says He's 'Not A Racist' In Monday Interview
• Rittenhouse Acquitted In Fatal Kenosha Protest Shooting