Kyle Rittenhouse’s mom has said that her son’s decision to take a rifle to an anti-racism protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year saved his life. The jurors who will decide Rittenhouse’s fate are expected to begin deliberating Monday after closing arguments in his homicide trial. Rittenhouse, 18, has argued that he used a semiautomatic rifle in self-defense after being attacked at a September 2020 protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Two men—Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26—were killed by Rittenhouse, and a third man, Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, was seriously injured. Speaking to NBC News, Wendy Rittenhouse backed up her son’s argument, saying: “He brung that gun for protection, and to this day if he didn’t have that gun, my son would’ve been dead.” She conceded that her son probably shouldn’t have been at the protest, but added: “A lot of people shouldn’t have been there.” Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide, and attempted first-degree intentional homicide.