Kyle Rittenhouse, Alleged Minneapolis Protest Shooter, Extradited to Wisconsin to Stand Trial

Kyle Rittenhouse, the accused Minneapolis protest shooter, has been extradited to Wisconsin to stand trial. According to the AP, Judge Paul Novak issued a six-page ruling in Rittenhouse’s request to remain in Illinois, where he has been held. “This Illinois court shall not examine any potential political impact a Wisconsin District Attorney potentially considered in his charging decision,” Novak wrote.

He went on to say that it is not an Illinois judge’s place or responsibility to “reevaluate probable cause determined by a Wisconsin court.” Following the ruling, Illinois authorities drove Rittenhouse to the Illinois-Wisconsin border, where he was turned over to Kenosha County sheriff deputies. The 17-year-old is accused of killing two people during protests the broke out in Kenosha, after a white police officer was filmed shooting a black man — Jacob Blake — multiple times in the back as he was attempting to get into his SUV. Rittenhouse is facing two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, one charge of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, one charge of first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide.

Rittenhouse has been alleged to be a member of the “Boogaloo Bois,” an extremist group. However, authorities do not appear to comment on any possible association he may have with the group. According to USA Today, the Boogaloo Bois comprises mostly-online extremists who want to start a second civil war in the United States. It is also believed that the group does not necessarily lean toward any one particular political ideology. Rather, the members all have their varying personal beliefs.

Notably, the Boogaloo Bois has been labeled a “white supremacist group” by some, but authorities who’ve investigated the group have stated that it is more complicated than this. Alex Newhouse — who is the digital research lead at Middlebury Institute’s Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism — spoke with USA Today about the group, and clarified that it is not always easy to tell which side of a protest a self-professed Boogaloo Boi would be on. “There’s a lot of overlap and the boundary is blurry because they both evolved together. It is very difficult to know if the ‘boogaloo boi’ you see standing in the middle of the street at a protest is there in solidarity or to incite violence.”