#Militias called for armed vigilantes in Kenosha before fatal shootings

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Men carry rifles as people protest outside the Kenosha County Courthouse.
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Armed militia groups put out a call online for vigilantes to converge on Kenosha, Wisconsin, to defend the city from “evil thugs” in the hours before two demonstrators were shot dead by a gun-toting Illinois teenager, according to reports.

Multiple posts on Facebook and Reddit urged militias and others to join in on vigilante patrols in the city of 100,000, which has been plagued by violent protests since the police shooting Sunday of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man, the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research said.

“At 10:44 a.m. local time, the administrator of the ‘Kenosha Guard’ page asked if any members were willing to ‘take up arms and defend out (sic) City tonight from the evil thugs,” the council said. “They continued, ‘Nodoubt (sic) they are currently planning on the next part of the City to burn tonight!”

Ray Roberts, a black Kenosha resident, said men from “rural areas got in big trucks loaded up with guns and flags and got into town.”

“You would see them driving into town after curfew and cops not stopping them,” he said.

Among those who appeared to answer the call was Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old resident of Antioch, Illinois, who was among the militia groups when he allegedly opened fire on three protestors, killing two.

He is now facing first-degree intentional homicide charges.

Rittenhouse, who is awaiting extradition to Wisconsin, told The Daily Caller in a Twitter interview in Kenosha shortly before the shooting Tuesday that “our job is to protect this business.”

Authorities have not linked Rittenhouse directly to the Kenosha group or other militia organizations but he was seen with them on several videos and images posted online Tuesday.

Facebook confirmed Wednesday that it took down the Kenosha Guard’s page because it violated company policy against promoting militia organizations — and said it is in the process of removing other militia pages.

The company said it also removed Rittenhouse’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

Despite receiving complaints, Facebook failed to remove the Kenosha Guard page until after the shootings, according to CNN.

By the time the page, titled “Armed Citizens to Protect Our Lifes and Property,” was removed Wednesday, at least 2,600 people had responded, the network reported.

With Post wires