A police officer in Norfolk, Virginia, has been fired after he expressed support for Kyle Rittenhouse and made an anonymous $25 donation to his defense fund.
The officer’s message at the time read, in part: “God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Chief Larry Boone and I have concluded Lt. Kelly’s actions are in violation of City and departmental policies,” Chip Filer, the city manager of Norfolk, said in a statement. “His egregious comments erode the trust between the Norfolk Police Department and those they are sworn to serve. The City of Norfolk has a standard of behavior for all employees, and we will hold staff accountable.”
Rittenhouse is charged with shooting two men during the protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse was released on a $2 million bail in November, primarily raised by conservatives, including Mike Lindell and Ricky Schroeder. Rittenhouse’s trial has been set back to November 1.
A data leak by a Christian crowdfunding website shed light on the sources of over $500,000 in donations to Rittenhouse’s legal defense fund. The data was unearthed by the digital activist group Distributed Denial Of Secrets and shared with NBC News on Friday.
Full story at NBC