- Police and public officials donated to a crowdfunding page for
Kyle Rittenhouse , according to a report from The Guardian. - Donors from the
fundraiser on GiveSendGo were revealed following a data breach. - One suspected police donor, an internal affairs head in Virginia, was reassigned.
A number of police officers and public officials donated to fundraiser raising money to help pay for Kyle Rittenhouse's legal fees, a data breach revealed.
Donors from the fundraiser on the Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo were revealed in a report from The Guardian, using data from the transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets.
"God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You've done nothing wrong," read one comment, which was linked to an official email address for the executive director of internal affairs at the Norfolk Police Department in Virginia.
"Every rank and file police officer supports you," the comment continued. "Don't be discouraged by actions of the political class of law enforcement leadership."
Norfolk Police released a statement on Friday saying that officer had been "reassigned to another division" pending an internal investigation into the donation.
"I am aware of the allegations leveraged against an officer of this department and have directed an administrative investigation to ensure department policies and procedures were not violated," Norfolk Police Chief Larry D. Boone said.
Other donors included police officers, far-right activists, and public officials who in some cases used their official email addresses to donate, according to the Guardian.
Rittenhouse, 18, has been charged in the fatal shooting of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake. He has pleaded not guilty.
The GiveSendGo fundraiser ultimately ended up raising about $500,000 for Rittenhouse, whose actions have been celebrated by far-right activists.