KENOSHA, Wisconsin (AP) – A man who sustained a serious arm injury when Kyle Rittenhouse was shot and killed during a night of protests against racial injustice is expected to testify this week as prosecutors near the end of their trial in the Rittenhouse murder trial.
Gaige Großkreutz, 27, who had a gun in hand as he approached Rittenhouse, was shot in the arm shortly after Rittenhouse fatally shot two others on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Testimony during the first week of the trial against Rittenhouse showed that spectators came to Großkreutz’s aid and put a tourniquet on his arm before loading him into a vehicle that took him to a hospital.
The 18-year-old Rittenhouse is charged with shooting Großkreutz and fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber on August 25, 2020. The former Antioch, Illinois police youth cadet was 17 when he went to Kenosha with an AR rifle and a medical kit in what he said was an attempt to protect property from the demonstrations over the shooting of Jacob Blake , a black man, escaped by a white kenosha policeman.
Rittenhouse is white, as are the three men he shot, but the case has raised polarizing questions about racial justice, policing, firearms and white privilege.
During the first week of the Rittenhouse trial, prosecutors played numerous videos showing the events of that night from different angles. The jury heard testimony from people who were with Rittenhouse, as well as from police officers and relatives of the deceased men.
Jason Lackowski, a former Marine who was on the streets of Kenosha with his own rifle, testified on Friday about Rosenbaum, the first man Rittenhouse shot and killed. Lackowski said Rosenbaum acted “bellicose” but did not pose a serious threat.
Lackowski said he thought Rosenbaum was a “babbling idiot”, turned his back on him and ignored him. He admitted that he had not seen everything that went on between Rittenhouse and Rosenbaum, including their last encounter.
Other witnesses testified last week that a “hyper-aggressive” Rosenbaum furiously threatened to kill Rittenhouse that night and that Rosenbaum was gunned down after pursuing Rittenhouse and reaching for his rifle.
Prosecutors have portrayed Rittenhouse as the instigator of the bloodshed as well as an inexperienced teenager who misrepresented his age and medical education that night. Rittenhouse’s attorney has argued that he acted in self-defense, suggesting, among other things, that Rittenhouse was concerned that his gun would be taken and used against him.
Prosecutors suffered a possible blow when Rosenbaum’s fiancée Kariann Swart announced he was taking medication for bipolar disorder and depression but had failed to fill out his prescriptions because the local pharmacy was boarded up over the riots – information the lawyers were getting from Rittenhouse in their attempt to portray Rosenbaum as the aggressor.
Rosenbaum, 36, was discharged from a Milwaukee hospital the day he was killed. So much was told to the jury, but not why he was included – after attempting suicide.
Rosenbaum’s murder turned out to be one of the most important moments that night because it started the bloodshed that followed moments later.
Rittenhouse shot and killed Huber, a 26-year-old protester who was seen on a viewer video who hit Rittenhouse with a skateboard. Rittenhouse then wounded Grosskreutz,
Rittenhouse could face life imprisonment if convicted. The case has sparked a heated debate over self-defense, vigilance, the right to bear arms and the racial unrest that broke out in the United States following the assassination of George Floyd in Minneapolis and similar cases.
Two jurors were also fired last week. A man was fired on possible bias after telling a joke to a court security officer about Blake’s shooting, and a pregnant woman was fired after saying she was feeling unwell. Eighteen jurors remain, and 12 are ultimately selected for deliberation.
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