Three men, including one who was friends with Kyle Rittenhouse and gave him the rifle used in the fatal 2020 shooting, have been arrested following an armed robbery in the parking lot of a school in Harvard and a police pursuit.
The Harvard Police Department responded around 1:42 a.m. Thursday to the area of Route 14, also known as Division Street, and North Garfield Street for a report of an armed robbery that had just occurred.
Harvard Police Chief Tyson Bauman said it was reported that the victims were pursuing the offending vehicle and its occupants but lost sight of it after crossing into Wisconsin.
The Walworth County Sheriff’s Office was provided with the suspect vehicle description.
Officers met with the victims, a 32-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman, who were both Janesville, Wisconsin, residents, and were informed they had been selling jewelry through Facebook Marketplace.
The parties arranged to meet in the area of the Harvard High School in the 1100 block of North Jefferson Street to complete the transaction, Bauman said.
Bauman said the offenders displayed a rifle and stole the jewelry during the meetup before fleeing northbound out of Harvard into Wisconsin.
The Walworth County Sheriff’s Office located the suspect vehicle, which subsequently fled from deputies.
Deputies pursued the vehicle into Racine County, Wisconsin, where the Racine County Sheriff’s Office assisted and spike strips were deployed to disable the vehicle, Bauman said.
The three offenders were taken into custody without incident. The stolen jewelry and the rifle were recovered inside the vehicle.
The offenders were identified as Dominick D. Black, 24, of Kenosha, Wisconsin; Blair W. Stiles II, 19, of Kenosha, Wisconsin; and Solomon A. Bankhead, 25, of Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office reviewed the case and approved one count of armed robbery, a Class X felony, for each suspect.
Arrest warrants were obtained and all three offenders remain held in the Walworth County Jail awaiting extradition.
In 2020, Black was arrested after authorities say he purchased and supplied the rifle to Kyle Rittenhouse, of Antioch, when Rittenhouse fatally shot two men and wounded a third in Kenosha during civil unrest sparked by the Jacob Blake police-involved shooting.
Black also drove Rittenhouse back to Antioch from Kenosha following the shooting, authorities said.
Bauman said residents are reminded to always meet in a well-lit, public location when selling or purchasing items through Facebook Marketplace or other platforms.
The Harvard Police Department has a designated safe exchange zone at the police station to help ensure safe and secure transactions.
Black, Stiles and Bankhead are facing additional charges in Wisconsin. The incident remains under investigation and additional charges are possible in McHenry County.