4 years after Kyle Rittenhouse shooting, Wisconsin city reflects on unity and moving forward – WEIS

(KENOSHA, Wis.) — Kenosha, Wisconsin, is a picturesque community on the shore of Lake Michigan. It’s known for its boats, fresh corn at the farmers market, and the nation’s oldest velodrome. But everything changed when Kenosha stepped into the national spotlight in 2020.

Jacob Blake, 29, a father of three, was shot seven times by a local police officer and was left paralyzed from the waist down. Following Blake’s police shooting in August 2020, protests, riots and civil unrest occurred in Kenosha and across the United States as part of the Black Lives Matter movement and other groups protesting racial injustice.

Amid looting and rioting in Kenosha, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse arrived at the scene armed, saying he was there to protect a car dealership from rioters. As the situation escalated, Rittenhouse shot three men, killing two.

Rittenhouse was charged with two felonies: first-degree recklessly endangering safety, first-degree reckless manslaughter, first-degree intentional homicide, and attempted first-degree intentional homicide. A charge of violating a curfew imposed during the Kenosha protests was later dropped.

Rittenhouse pleaded not guilty to the charges and testified in trial that he shot the three men in self-defense with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

Rittenhouse was acquitted. Embraced by gun rights advocates, he became a symbol of the Second Amendment and gained popularity within the Republican Party.

Now, following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, all eyes are on the state of Wisconsin, a pivotal state that Trump recently visited for the Republican Party Convention.

According to community activist Molly Gray-Moores, Kenosha residents are experiencing similar fears as they did four years ago.

“Oh my God, are we going backwards instead of forwards?” Gray-Moores said. “We need our city and our country to come to one place where we can all come together. We can’t keep tearing our city and our country apart.”

Gray-Moore’s sentiments also resonate with Kenosha’s new police chief, Patrick Patton, who agrees. Patton was guarding a local parade when news of the Trump assassination attempt broke.

“No matter which side of the fence you’re on, an attack on an elected official or a former sitting president or a candidate is an attack on our democracy,” Patton said. “The world looks to America as the leader in that area. So this sets us back. We can’t have it. It’s un-American.”

In rural Kenosha, it’s Trump country, and there’s been a wake-up call. Some locals are worried that people are resorting to violence, using guns instead of votes to get their message across.

“They may not always agree with us, but they have their opinions, we have our opinions,” said Diane Biehn, a resident of rural Kenosha. “Let’s not take it to that level of violence.”

Across town, a local businessman and barber is trying to increase community participation by holding community engagement sessions in his shop, with topics including the direction of our country and who will lead it.

Alvin Owens leads the Regimen Barber Collective, hoping to engage people from diverse backgrounds in standing up for the right to vote.

ABC News spoke with one participant who said they benefited from the conversations and put aside their apathy toward the current presidential candidates.

“I got four kids and they’re all boys, and I want them to be kings,” Kyle Smith said. “I want them to be men in the truest sense of the word. And I can’t teach that if I don’t embody it and I may not want to vote, but I have to, man. So hopefully I vote for the right person. We’ll see.”

Another participant encourages candidates to appreciate America’s diversity.

“I think it’s really important to step outside of your own box and listen to other people and learn who they are, and embrace our diversity, because that’s America,” said Jami Jastrom.

As the country enters the final months of this tumultuous election cycle, both presidential candidates are calling for less angry rhetoric and more unity, a sentiment shared by Kenoshan residents.

“Let’s work together,” Gray-Moores said. “Everybody has a voice, use it. You don’t have to use anger, you don’t have to use guns. None of that, that’s not what we’re about.”

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