Was it aggression or self-defense? Kyle R. is said to have shot two people and seriously injured one during the riot in Kenosha. Now a battle for interpretive sovereignty has broken out. US President Trump took his side.
By Arthur Landwehr, ARD-Studio Washington
He looks really proud, photographed slightly from below, in his hand a military-looking rifle – as the investigation protocol says, “a Smith & Wesson in the A-15 style”. The cartridges for the rifle are four and a half centimeters long. Kyle R., just 17 years old, shot two people and seriously injured another with this rifle during a demonstration in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
What is Kyle R. now? A confused gun nut? A murderer? A hero who gives his life to protect law and order? Someone who takes a weapon between democracy and anarchy because the state has failed? Or is he a seduced who fell into the clutches of supporters of white supremacy? Is he someone who has been infected and radicalized by Donald Trump’s fear rhetoric? Kyle R. is suddenly at the center of a culture war that is about nothing less than the future American social order.
Protests against racist police violence
Tuesday night last week: There is another demonstration in Kenosha, people are protesting against the fact that a white policeman shot black Jacob Blake seven bullets in the back. In the previous nights, houses and cars went up in flames, shops were looted.
“We drive into the city and protect our streets,” there had probably been calls in social networks. Kyle R. and several other men take their pistols and rifles and see themselves as militia – a vigilante group. “My job is to protect people,” R. told a reporter shortly before the shooting. The situation in the streets becomes more and more chaotic, at some point he shoots, calls a friend and tells him that he has just killed someone.
Lawyer speaks of self-defense
Kyle R. is arrested and is now charged with murder and a host of other crimes, including illicit gun possession. At 17 he wasn’t even allowed to have this rifle. What is known about him comes from partially reliable internet sources and media reports. They portray him as a young white man who loves guns and posts selfies with guns. He campaigns for “Blue Lives Matter”, ie for the police who are under pressure for violence against black people. He would like to work there himself later. He leaves school early, does an internship with the fire brigade and works as a lifeguard.
“Kyle R. shot in self-defense,” says attorney John Pierce. “He defended his community when the state didn’t.” An example of American patriotism and courage to fight. His client was suddenly confronted with murder charges while he was only defending himself against a “merciless, vicious and potentially deadly mob,” says Pierce. “We’re shocked that it’s a 17-year-old with a rifle who chooses to keep order because nobody else is,” Fox News said.
Battle for the narrative
Representatives from Black Lives Matter and participants in the demonstrations paint a completely different picture: Kyle R. is the prototype of the national terrorist who uses violence to fuel the situation. Many blame Trump because it is he who spreads fear of chaos and anarchy. It is he who glorifies gun ownership and indirectly supports it when armed militias suddenly form. Kyle R. is a Trump fan: he posted a video showing him at a Trump event in January.
The battle over the narrative has begun – and it is also being fought with money. A fund collects donations for the severely injured victim of the shooter in order to pay their treatment costs. There is $ 50,000 in the account. Several organizations stand up for Kyle R. and collect money for the defense. One of them is a right-wing extremist republican student organization, which is therefore in trouble with other student organizations. The Christian donation page “Give Send Go” has reportedly raised more than $ 270,000 to pay R’s legal fees. This site boasts that it is the only platform to allow collection campaigns for the shooter. According to media reports, other large providers such as “GoFundMe” have refused a collective account. “We belong to veterans, we don’t let ourselves be censored or canceled,” says “Give Send Go”.
Trump has placed “Law and Order” at the center of his election campaign. Since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the United States has been rocked by protests against police violence, which repeatedly degenerate into violence. How to deal with the concerns of the demonstrators and with the violence divides the country once again.
