Kyle Rittenhouse's Kansas City Shooting Message Goes Viral

A comment Kyle Rittenhouse shared regarding last week's shooting at the Super Bowl victory parade for the Kansas City Chiefs has gone viral on social media.

Shots were fired on February 14 west of Kansas City's Union Station near a parking garage that was close to the parade's main stage. Kansas City Police previously told Newsweek in an email that officers were "working to provide for the safety of everyone inside Union Station and expedite care of those injured."

Two teenagers have been charged by police over the shooting that left one dead and several injured. While the juveniles' ages and identities have not been released, police confirmed that the victim was Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a local DJ and mother of two. Police arrested three suspects in connection with the incident.

Rittenhouse has now weighed in on the aftermath of the incident. Rittenhouse, 21, gained notoriety in August 2020 when, at the age of 17, he shot and killed two men—Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26—at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was using a semi-automatic AR-15-style assault rifle, also injured a 26-year-old named Gaige Grosskreutz.

He said the three shootings were in self-defense. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest where the shootings took place was held in the wake of Jacob Blake, a Black man, being left paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot by a white police officer that same month.

Following his trial, Rittenhouse was acquitted in November 2021 on charges of first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, and two charges of first-degree recklessly endangering safety. Rittenhouse later said he supported the BLM movement, explaining that he was at the demonstration to "protect businesses and provide medical assistance."

Comparing the Kansas City incident to his own experience, Rittenhouse took to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday to share a post.

"I am trying to comprehend why the government was quick to reveal my name after I defended myself, but they still haven't released the names of the Kansas City shooters," Rittenhouse wrote.

The post attracted a flood of responses that brought up race as a factor. One X user opined that Rittenhouse was "white defending yourself against threats in your city. You're a white conservative male who used his 2nd amendment right. Conservatives are targeted and persecuted. That's why."

Hitting back at Rittenhouse's post, former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann weighed in: "YOU released your own name first, you fathead. Keep trying to comprehend—but ask someone with a brain for help."

As of press time, the original post has been viewed more than 9 million times. Newsweek has contacted Rittenhouse via X for comment.

Rittenhouse has documented the circumstances surrounding the 2020 shootings in his recently released book, Acquitted, which has been described as a "story of survival, resilience, and justice."

"I never wanted to be a public figure. I was homeless as a small child and raised in government-subsidized housing. My goal was to be a cop or a paramedic," a blurb for the book reads.

"I went to Kenosha to help my community—not become a whipping boy in the national debate. In less than three minutes, the direction of my life was horribly altered when I was forced to defend myself with deadly force. So much was said and written about me that was not true."

Back in November, Rittenhouse's criminal defense attorney said that he had lost all his money since he was acquitted in the Wisconsin shootings.

Talking to Court TV, attorney Mark Richards, who represented Rittenhouse at the trial, said: "He is working, he is trying to support himself. Everybody thinks that Kyle got so much money from this. Whatever money he did get is gone.

"He's living, I don't want to say paycheck to paycheck, but he's living to support himself. Obviously, as his lawyer and somebody who I want to do well, I hope he does reengage in his studies. But right now he is working full-time, he is living a law-abiding life and he is doing something that he enjoys."

Rittenhouse has been open about needing money in the past and previously used an appearance on Fox News to request donations to his legal fund. He faces lawsuits from the man he shot and injured, as well as from the father of one of the two men he killed. Rittenhouse has denied any wrongdoing.