The mother of the 17-year-old accused of fatally shooting two men during a protest in Wisconsin is now speaking out in defense of her son.

Wendy Rittenhouse believes her son, Kyle Rittenhouse, and the other protesters who were demonstrating after a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake several times in the back, should not have been in the city after the shooting.

“No one should have been there,” she told the Chicago Tribune. “The protesters should not have been there, also. My son shouldn’t have been there either. It’s a tragedy what happened to Mr. Blake. It is. But my son and everybody else should not have been in Kenosha.”

Wendy said that her son felt the need to help protect the local businesses in Kenosha after looting and destruction erupted following Blake’s shooting. Instead, she believes the police and local officials are to blame for the violence that occurred the night her son allegedly killed two people.

“The police should have helped the businesses out instead of having a 17-year-old kid helping him,” she said. “The police should have been involved with these people that lost their businesses. They should have stepped up. I’m not mad at the police. I’m not. They have a hard enough job as it is.”

She also tried to place blame on the Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, who she said did not deploy reinforcements in time.

Wendy dismissed any claims that her son may flee if he is let out on bond. “I have $1.20 in my bank account,” she said. “You think I can get on a plane?”

Kyle was recently extradited back to Wisconsin to face several charges, including one count of first-degree intentional homicide. His bond was set at $2 million and his lawyers are reportedly in the process appealing the extradition.