Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty of homicide. On August 25, 2020, Rittenhouse fatally shot two people and wounded another when he shot at them during a riot over police conduct in Kenosha, Wis. He was 17 at the time of the shootings, and 18 when the jury came to a verdict.
The protest was for Jacob Blake. A 29-year-old man was shot and killed by a police officer, Rusten Sheskey. In his testimony, Rittenhouse claims he brought the gun for protection and was only going to use the firearm if he feared his life.
On the day of the protest, most demonstrators were acting peacefully, but others were being destructive to cars, property, and other people. Rittenhouse was chased into a parking lot by Joseph Rosenbaum, 36 of Kenosha. Rosenbaum was unarmed and “acting erratically” as explained in the New York Times article. Rosenbaum was shot in close range by Rittenhouse.
As Rittenhouse was fleeing the scene, he was pursued by two men—Anthony Huber (26) and Gaige Grosskreutz. Huber was protesting his longtime friend, Mr. Blake, before he was fatally shot by Rittenhouse. Grosskreutz survived the shooting. He is a medic from the Milwaukee area and testified at trial. He claims he pulled his gun out because he believed that Rittenhouse was an active shooter.
I believe that Kyle Rittenhouse is guilty. The claims of self-defense, Rittenhouse’s age, the circumstances, or whatever else do not matter. What matters is that two of the three men he shot died, and the one who had a gun was still alive and never shot at Rittenhouse. I believe that Grosskreutz could have shot Rittenhouse if he wanted to, but he did not want to. That is the difference between him and Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse intentionally wanted to shoot those three men at that moment. Do I believe he was worried more about his own life than the others? Absolutely. But I believe the relationship between the protest and Rittenhouse seems troublesome. I have not been able to find much information as to why Rittenhouse was at the protest, but it would be interesting to know if he was there defending Mr. Blake or if he was defending Officer Rusten Sheskey.