Mom Told Rittenhouse to Delete Social Media After Shooting

'Chicago Tribune' obtained hours of footage of the two of them at the Antioch police station
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 26, 2021 12:59 PM CST
Kyle Rittenhouse, Mom Fretted About Facebook After Shooting
This Oct. 30, 2020, file photo provided by the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department shows Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wis.   (Kenosha County Sheriff's Department via AP File)

Four hours of footage captured Kyle Rittenhouse and his mother in a police station interrogation room just hours after he shot and killed two men in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Chicago Tribune reports the footage shows what the at-times distressed pair was concerned with: social media and PTSD. The newspaper obtained the video Monday under a FOIA request, and it reports on the various exchanges the footage taken at the Antioch police station shows between the then-17-year-old and Wendy Rittenhouse as they wait for a lawyer. At one point, Kyle asks his mom, who has taken off her glasses and put her head in her hands, if she's OK. "F------ dumb f------ on Facebook," she replies softly. "They're saying you’re a piece of s--- and I'm a piece of s--- mother. But it's just f------ words."

She instructs him to get rid of his social media accounts "cause they're going to harass you if they can find you anywhere." He writes down his Snapchat login info but tells his mom other passwords are in his phone, which the police have. He later asks an officer, "After you guys get a warrant to go through all my (expletive), can you make sure everything like my social media is deleted?" Per the Tribune, Kyle "appeared to not understand the serious consequences he faced": He variously asked if he could go home and if he could talk to a counselor "about what happened ... I don't want to be one of those people that lives with PTSD the rest of their life." ABC7 reports Kyle appeared to hyperventilate at one point. He was not heard on the video asking about the victims, who he claims he shot in self-defense. (The teen was given new bond terms after he went to a Wisconsin bar with his mom.)

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