Alleged Kenosha shooter's extradition hearing delayed for a month as he hires legal team

Kyle Rittenhouse did not appear for his extradition hearing Friday as he faces charges of shooting and killing two people and injuring another in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Rittenhouse was charged with killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26; and injuring Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, during a protest Tuesday night. The 17-year-old is from Illinois — Kenosha is on the border with the other state — and will have to be extradited to Wisconsin to face six charges in the case, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. He requested his presence at the Friday hearing be waived as he hires a legal team, and so his extradition hearing was delayed for another 30 days.

Video captured a person investigators say they identified as Rittenhouse carrying a long gun and shooting at people protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse was arrested in Illinois on Wednesday on charges of intentional homicide, reckless homicide, and possession of a dangerous weapon under the age of 18, among other counts. Intentional homicide could put Rittenhouse in jail for life.

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Police shot Blake, a Black man, eight times in the back on Sunday night as he opened his car door, where his kids were sitting inside. Witnesses say Blake had just broken up a verbal fight when police arrived. Blake survived, but is paralyzed from the waist down, his family said. They also said Blake was being handcuffed to his hospital bed. Blake's shooting has added to a wave of protests against police brutality and systemic racism throughout the U.S., and prompted professional athletes to strike on Thursday. Protests in Kenosha turned violent when armed militias came downtown to purportedly defend the city, and Rittenhouse appeared to align himself with these groups.