KENT, Ohio — Kyle Rittenhouse sparked controversy on Kent State’s campus Tuesday evening. Rittenhouse, who shot three people, killing two and injuring a third, during a Black Lives Matter protest in Wisconsin in 2020, spoke to a crowd at the school about his experiences. In 2021, Rittenhouse said he acted in self-defense and was found not guilty on all charges.

“If I would have known that I would’ve been violently and viciously attacked and be put on a trial, I wouldn’t have gone there, but that does not change my right to self defense,” Rittenhouse said.

There was a long line to get into the student center for people to hear his story, but there were also many students that were upset with his presence on campus, including Aimée Flores.

“I ask you one question. Is the voice of Kyle Rittenhouse more important than the cries of danger coming from your own students?” she said.

Paul Prediger, formerly known as Gaige Grosskreutz, also spoke at the protest against Rittenhouse. Prediger was one of the people that Rittenhouse shot in 2020 and was the only one to survive.

“What I am here to do is stand with the students of Kent State who have had enough. Enough of Kyle and his rhetoric, enough of the celebration of loss of human life, enough of the flawed logic because a 17-year-old who shot me and killed two others with an illegally obtained firearm, an illegally carried firearm is now somehow qualified to be a champion of gun rights,” he said. 

University officials said that freedom of speech laws protects the rights of speakers on Kent State’s campus. 

Rittenhouse said for those who disagree with him and his story, he let it go.

“They can say whatever they want. They have a first amendment right. I know what happened. I know the truth. They can spew the lies all day if they want to. It doesn’t affect my day-to-day,” he said.