A young man who allegedly killed two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin last night was identified on social media hours before charges were publicly revealed, as Twitter and YouTube users attempted to reconstruct the shootings that took place during a week of protests against police brutality.
Kyle Rittenhouse was identified as a “fugitive from justice” today and will be charged with first-degree intentional homicide, according to the Associated Press. The news came after footage of his alleged murders had been amplified online by supporters of the protesters, as well as defenders of Rittenhouse.
Digital investigations have identified (and frequently also misidentified) shooters after they’ve been taken into custody but before they’ve been named. In this case, however, social media videos may have played a role in helping apprehend the shooter — whom local police apparently did not stop as he directly approached their vehicles. The morning after the incident, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote that Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth was reviewing video footage and believed law enforcement would soon make an arrest based on it, saying “I feel very confident we’ll have him in a very short time.” Rittenhouse’s charges were revealed by police in Antioch, Illinois hours later.
The killings in Kenosha took place around midnight on August 25th, the third night of protests — sometimes accompanied by vandalism and looting — after police shot and paralyzed 29-year-old Jacob Blake. In graphic videos posted online, a man in a green shirt and blue gloves appears to shoot a protest attendee with a rifle. While earlier video showed protesters and armed vigilantes in a tense confrontation, the exact start of the altercation isn’t clear. But as someone begins first aid, the shooter apparently pulls out a phone and shouts that “I just killed somebody.” Shortly afterwards, he’s approached by protesters seemingly attempting to tackle or disarm him. He fires more shots and hits two more people, then walks toward several law enforcement vehicles with his hands up. A bystander repeatedly yells that “that dude just shot someone,” but an officer in one vehicle simply asks if anyone is injured and drives toward the slain and wounded protesters — leaving the shooter to walk away.
The Kenosha Police Department released an early statement saying that they had opened an investigation into the shooting but offered no further details. They later offered a noncommittal description of the night’s events. “Last night, a 17-year-old individual from Antioch, Illinois was involved in the use of firearms to resolve whatever conflict was in place,” said Police Chief Daniel Miskinis in an afternoon press conference following Rittenhouse’s arrest. “The result of it was two people are dead.”
The original videos don’t identify the shooter by name. But several Twitter threads linked them with more background detail. The same man had been interviewed earlier for a Milwaukee news program called The Rundown Live, where he identified himself as “Kyle” and claims to be a local. (In arrest documents, Rittenhouse is identified as coming from Antioch, which is around 20 miles from Kenosha.) Another Rundown video shows a friendly-looking interaction between “Kyle” and Kenosha police, who offered water to the armed vigilantes. “We appreciate you guys, we really do,” an officer says in the video.
A Twitter account with the handle @swampthingx was apparently one of the earliest to name Rittenhouse. The account posted screenshots of his Facebook profile, which included pictures of him brandishing a rifle similar to that in the video, plus numerous pro-police “Blue Lives Matter” posts. It also tweeted a Snapchat video linked to Rittenhouse’s name and a screenshot that showed a neighbor identifying him. Journalist Garrison Davis also found pictures of Rittenhouse wearing a similar American flag hat to the shooter.
Some commenters on Twitter and Facebook — as well as far-right spaces like the message board 4chan — praised Rittenhouse and described his actions as self-defense. A group called the Kenosha Guard had called for vigilantes to take the streets and defend local businesses, garnering coverage of their “call to arms” on Infowars. They urged the public to wait for “all the facts and evidence” but did not disavow the killings.
But Rittenhouse’s identity was circulated critically by accounts like It’s Going Down, an antifascist news outlet recently banned by Facebook as a “dangerous organization.” A Change.org petition urged law enforcement to arrest the 17-year-old and try him as an adult. And some Twitter users expressed amazement that police hadn’t apprehended him in the first place. “Dude is literally walking to the cops expecting to be arrested and they just drive right past him,” one person wrote.
The shooting was a grim coda to groups organizing vigilante action in response to the protests. A new report by Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab traced the spread of Kenosha Guard’s invitation and similar messages across Infowars and social media networks like Facebook and Reddit — finding reminders to “protect and deter, not be the aggressors” interspersed with calls to “give them hell” and “shoot to kill.”