This line from the Rittenhouse defense team’s closing completely horrified viewers

As Kyle Rittenhouse's trial was winding down on Monday, the teenage vigilante's defense team gave its closing arguments — and one of the lines from Rittenhouse attorney Mark Richards has been drawing very negative reactions.

The 18-year-old Rittenhouse is facing homicide and attempted homicide charges for shooting three people (two of them fatally) during a racial justice protest in August 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where protesters were demonstrating against the shooting of Jacob Blake, a young African-American man, by a White police officer. Rittenhouse, who went to that protest armed with an AR-style weapon, admits to shooting three people. But he has maintained that he acted in self-defense and wanted to protect Kenosha businesses from rioters.

Richards told the jury, "Ladies and gentlemen, other people in this community have shot somebody seven times — and it's been found to be OK. My client did it four times."

Washington, D.C.-based attorney Bradley P. Moss wondered how such a comment even made it to Richards' closing remarks:

As others pointed out, this seemed to be a reference to the police officer Rusten Sheskey who shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back and in the side, an event that triggered the protests in Kenosha. The officer, like Rittenhouse, claimed self-defense, faced no charges and kept his job.

Here are some more responses to Richards' comment: