Kyle Rittenhouse started Facebook fundraiser for a charity called ‘Humanize the Badge’

The teenage gunman charged with fatally shooting two protesters in Kenosha on Tuesday, had started a Facebook fundraiser for a police charity on his 16th birthday.

Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, launched a campaign for ‘Humanizing the Badge’, a nonprofit organization aimed at supporting law enforcement, in December 2018, according to old social media posts.

The teenager asked friends to donate to the charity, which he said sought to ‘forge stronger relationships between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve.’

The appeal was launched through Facebook’s popular fundraiser feature that allows users to collect money for a charity of their choice in lieu of gifts on their birthday. 

Users can choose from a list of 750,000 nonprofits and set a target for the amount of money they want to raise. 

The post is one of several social media posts that have emerged in the wake of Rittenhouse’s arrest revealing his admiration for law enforcement and police. 

Rittenhouse was formally charged with first-degree intentional homicide and other offenses on Thursday for fatally shooting two protesters and injuring a third, while ‘defending’ Kenosha during a demonstration on Tuesday. 

The two men who were killed have been identified as Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, of Kenosha, and Anthony Huber, 26, of Silver Lake, about 15 miles west of the city. 

The wounded person, Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, of West Allis, about 30 miles northwest of Kenosha, was expected to survive, police said. 

In a statement shared on Facebook on Thursday, Humanizing the Badge appeared to try to distance itself from Rittenhouse and the shooting after the fundraiser was widely reported by several news outlets. 

The charity said the fundraiser did not necessarily mean Rittenhouse had a direct affiliation with the group, adding that Facebook lets ‘anyone’ create a campaign on  their page for any nonprofit.

‘Our Board of Directors believes that it is essential to release this statement, neither in support of, nor condemnation of, anyone involved in the Kenosha situation, but more specifically to address the implied involvement of Kyle Rittenhouse with the Humanizing the Badge organization,’ the organization said. 

‘There are 2 relevant facts regarding what has been reported: 1) it is a mischaracterization of the Facebook fundraiser process to state that Rittenhouse ‘held a fundraiser’ for Humanizing the Badge, which has left some people with the impression that he has some direct affiliation with our organization because he does not.

‘And 2) we have examined records dating back to January 1, 2020 and have found no evidence that Kyle Rittenhouse raised any money whatsoever that was donated to Humanizing the Badge.’

The organization went on to say its intention is to support everyone’s right to due process and that it does not state ‘opinions and assumptions as fact.’

‘We let the investigation proceed and the justice system do its difficult work. What will ultimately come out of this case remains to be seen,’ the statement read. 

As news of Rittenhouse’s arrest broke on Wednesday, Facebook removed the suspected gunman’s account and blocked searches under his name.  

Much of the teen’s Facebook page was devoted to praising law enforcement, with references to Blue Lives Matter, a movement that supports police. 

He was also seen holding an assault rifle in several photos. 

In a photograph posted by his mother, he is wearing what appears to be a blue law enforcement uniform as well as the kind of brimmed hat that state troopers wear.

In January this year, Rittenhouse also sat front row at a Trump rally at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa in January this year. 

A now-deleted TikTok account, believed to belong to the teen, also shows a video he took at the event.