On Tuesday, authorities reported that a police officer in Virginia who revealed donated money to support homicide suspect Kyle Rittenhouse was fired.
After his anonymous $25 donation to Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal defense fund, a high-ranking police officer in Virginia was fired. His donation revealed following a suspicious data breach at GiveSendGo, a Christian crowdfunding website. This announcement was made by Norfolk City Manager Chip Filer.
“I have reviewed the results of the internal investigation involving Lt. William Kelly. Chief Larry Boone and I have concluded Lt. Kelly’s actions violate City and departmental policies,” Filer said in a statement.
Rittenhouse is accused of killing two protesters and injuring a third after he opened fire at a demonstration against the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year. Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty.
News of Kelly’s firing comes four days after The Guardian published a list of public employees who donated to various funds on a Christian crowdfunding website called GiveSendGo, which was the target of a data breach. Kelly was among four public employees who donated to Rittenhouse’s legal defense on the website, The Guardian reported.
The report said that Kelly donated $25 anonymously to the legal defense, but he was identified because he used his official email address.
He left a comment on the fund along with his donation: “God bless. Thank you for your coverage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong.
Every rank and file police officer supports you. Don’t be discouraged by actions of the political class of law enforcement leadership,” The Guardian reported.
Before his firing, Kelly was the executive officer of internal affairs in the Norfolk Police Department, The Guardian reported. He was initially placed on administrative leave when the report was published last week, the city’s press release said.
Norfolk City Manager Chip Filer said on Tuesday that after an investigation, he and Police Chief Larry Boone “concluded that Lt. Kelly’s actions violate City and departmental policies.”
JUST IN: @NorfolkPD Lt. William Kelly has been “relieved of duty” – he’s the officer accused of donating to Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense fund. According to a @guardian news report, the donation also came with a comment: “Thank you for your courage… You’ve done nothing wrong.” pic.twitter.com/8QXjfJF5yT
— Dana Smith (@13DanaSmith) April 20, 2021
The “egregious comments” were benign remarks Kelly had attached to his online donation, where he said: “God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong,” according to WAVY-TV.
Kelly added that numerous other cops supported Rittenhouse because they believed he acted in self-defense and was being smeared by Democratic politicians and their media puppets to push their anti-gun agenda.
“Every rank and file police officer supports you,” the note read. “Don’t be discouraged by actions of the political class of law enforcement leadership.”
Rittenhouse, 18, is awaiting trial on murder charges related to the shooting deaths of two left-wing protesters and the wounding of a third on Aug. 25 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
His attorneys contend that he acted in self-defense when Anthony Huber, Joseph Rosenbaum, and Gaige Grosskreutz charged him at the anti-police Black Lives Matter riots that ravaged Kenosha.
Huber and Rosenbaum later died of gunshot wounds.
Like many other Americans, Kelly donated money to a legal defense fund for Rittenhouse in September. At the time, the 18-year veteran of the Norfolk Police Department was the executive officer of internal affairs.
He donated $25 anonymously through GiveSendGo.
Kelly’s name was identified among a long list of police officers and public officials who had used their official email addresses to donate to Rittenhouse following a data breach.
Watch it here: WAVY TV/Youtube
Sources: INSIDER, NBC NEWS, WESTERN JOURNAL