A Texas-based brewery recently decided to cancel a fundraising event featuring Kyle Rittenhouse, a man who rose to national media attention after he shot and killed two people during a riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020, and who was found not guilty of murder after he argued he acted in self-defense.
The Southern Star Brewing Company in Conroe, Texas, had previously planned to host a fundraising event on Jan. 26. Rittenhouse was set to be the featured speaker at the planned event, a “Rally Against Censorship.”
Rittenhouse was present at a riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020 with an AR-15-style rifle. During the riot, the then-17-year-old Rittenhouse was with a group of other armed individuals protecting business properties in the area. At one point in the evening, Rittenhouse was separated from the rest of the group and was shot at and chased by people in the crowd. In the initial chase, Rittenhouse fled and then turned and fatally shot the man chasing him. As Rittenhouse then ran toward police, additional individuals continued to chase him. During the chase, Rittenhouse fell to the ground and fatally shot a second individual who swung a skateboard at his head and grabbed at his gun. Rittenhouse also shot a man who pointed a handgun at him, striking that individual in the same limb with which the individual held his gun….