Shark Coast Tactical in Sarasota hired Kyle Rittenhouse and introduced him as the shop’s newest staff member. Rittenhouse said on Aug. 25 that he had already been working there for over a month, putting the public-facing job in place before the announcement drew wider attention.
Shark Coast Tactical in Sarasota
Owner Will Meade called Rittenhouse “illustrious” and said, “I hired a kid who needed a job. He’s doing a great job, and is a great employee.” Rittenhouse said he and his wife, Bella Rittenhouse, recently moved to Sarasota after he accepted a job at the gun shop at 2819 Bee Ridge Road.
He said he enjoyed the Shark Coast Tactical team’s “morale” and that he loved working in Sarasota. He added, “This is my life now, and I love my life,” and, “I sell guns for a living. It's fun.”
Kenosha and the court trial
The hire places Rittenhouse in a storefront role after he became nationally known from the shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In August 2020, when he was 17, he shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz with an AR-15-style rifle at a protest in Kenosha that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
He joined a group of armed men who said they were protecting businesses. Rittenhouse claimed self-defense and said several demonstrators attacked him. A jury found him not guilty of all charges in November 2021.
Rittenhouse’s public profile
The Sarasota job also follows earlier work at another Florida gun shop and a series of Turning Point USA-sponsored college speaking events in early 2024 called the “Rittenhouse Recap.” At Gulf Coast Gun and Outdoors, Chris Smith said in a February 2025 Facebook post that Rittenhouse was a full-time employee, and the shop worked with him to release the KR-15 rifle model.
For customers, the immediate effect is simple: Shark Coast Tactical has turned Rittenhouse into part of its front-facing staff, so the shop’s name and his public profile now move together. Asked whether controversy affects his treatment by the public or his workplace experience, he answered, “I carry a gun and I shoot straight.”
