The Kenosha County Sheriff resorted to dishing out 'cookies for peace' and cups of coffee at the courthouse on Thursday in a desperate effort to keep the crowds calm as the nervous wait for a verdict in the Rittenhouse trial rumbled on.
Sheriff David Beth - who failed to contain the riots last year after his 116 deputies were overrun by more than 1,000 protesters - was at the courthouse on Thursday as the jury deliberated the teenager's fate for a third day.
He was pictured approaching BLM protesters and Rittenhouse supporters, offering them cookies and a warm drink, in an effort to keep the peace.
'The Sheriff wanted to extend a goodwill gesture to the community in hopes that it would reduce tensions among the folks outside the courthouse and bring people together.
'It seemed to work from what we were seeing,' a spokesman for the force told DailyMail.com on Thursday.
His efforts weren't entirely successful. One man was arrested after showing up with a gun, a felony because it is within 1,000ft of a school. Yesterday, a man and a woman were arrested at the court and charged with disorderly conduct.
There is yet to be any violence beyond that, but tensions are high and rising.
Five elementary schools announced on Wednesday night that they are going remote for the rest of the week to keep kids off the streets in case of any unrest.
Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth serves coffee and cookies outside the Kenosha County Courthouse, during the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., November 18, 2021
Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth passes out 'Cookies for Peace' to demonstrators at the Kenosha County Courthouse on the third day of jury deliberations in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., November 18, 2021
A spokesman for the sheriff's department told DailyMail.com the coffee and cookies were a 'goodwill gesture in the hopes of reducing tensions'. 'It seemed to work,' they said
An armed man dressed in all black and wearing a mask being arrested for having a firearm by the Kenosha County Police in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse. He has not been identified
The man is the only person who was arrested on Thursday. Two protesters were arrested on Wednesday for disorderly conduct
Kyle Rittenhouse, center, pulls out his chair for a meeting Judge Bruce Schroeder called during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse on November 18, 2021 in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Frank Elementary School, one of them, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday: 'We will switch to virtual tomorrow and Friday as a precaution.
Our attendance area includes the homes surrounding the Kenosha Courthouse. Students log on at 8:15am with their teachers and crews.'
There are 500 National Guard troops now on standby 60 miles away from Kenosha in case any tensions arise.
Last August, Sheriff Beth found his force under siege when hundreds of protesters rushed to their small town after the Jacob Blake shooting. Kenosha Police Department, which had fewer than 200 officers at the time, was equally under outnumbered and the town begged for help from the Governor, but got only a few hundred National Guard troops at first.
Among those at the courthouse on Thursday was Daunte Wright's brother Damik Wright who told DailyMail.com: 'Everybody is boots on the ground regardless of whether its Mexico or Canada we are coming. It’s not just with one family.
'Wherever there is police brutality we are coming and will stand in solidarity with them,' he said.
Maserati Mike, a Rittenhouse supporter who showed up yesterday carrying a gun and was asked to leave, returned on Thursday carrying a sex toy which he waved in the air. He told reporters his name was Jesse Kline.
