"Kyle Rittenhouse will be served justice and pay for his crimes, either by the justice system or by his fellow Americans," Gill tweeted on Friday. The Black Lives Matter supporter, who has more than 25,000 followers on Twitter, blocked replies to his message. He later took his tweets into social-media hiding, allowing only approved followers to see his recent and former posts, amid heavy backlash.

Gill posted his tweet in reply to a post earlier Friday by Eric Garland, a self-described "intelligence analyst and advisor to CEOs and governments." Garland, while reacting to a New York Times article about Rittenhouse securing legal counsel, said, "After a while, you start to see connections between young men weaponized to become mass murderers and Russian operatives of various types."