Kenosha shooting defendant Kyle Rittenhouse has testified at his trial for murder that he received death threats from the first man he shot on August 25 2020.
Rittenhouse's lawyer asked him if there was any friction between the group he came with to protect local businesses in the Wisconsin city and protesters or rioters provoked by the police shooting of black man Jacob Blake, who was left paralysed.
“The only type of conf... stuff that happened was that the person that attacked me first threatened to kill me, twice,” the 18-year-old said.
That person was Joseph Rosenbaum, who Rittenhouse shot with his semi-automatic AR-15 rifle after Rosenbaum chased him across the forecourt of a car dealership where the youth came to put out a fire started by rioters.
Rittenhouse said he had never seen Rosenbaum before that night nor done anything to upset him. He said the first time he saw the man, Rosenbaum was carrying a steel chain and wearing a blue mask, and "he was just mad about something."
"If I catch any of you f*ckers alone, I'm going to f*cking kill you," Rittenhouse said Rosenbaum screamed when he saw him and another man offering first aid to passers-by.
He said the Rosenbaum's second threat was directed at his group standing outside the Car Source lot, when he screamed "I'm going to cut your f*cking hearts out".
Just after that somebody threw a "chemical bomb" into the group, Rittenhouse said, confirming the testimony of other witnesses. He said he helped his companion Ryan Balch wash his eyes and drink water to get over the teargas-like effects.
He said he was later was pepper-sprayed by somebody in a large crowd that had gathered around the Car Source, but did not retaliate.
Rittenhouse is on trial for the murders of Rosenbaum and Antony Huber, and the attempted murder of Gaige Grosskreutz.
First Shooting
Rittenhouse said he saw Rosenbaum and a man later identified as Joshua Zaminsky tip over a trailer and a portable chemical toilet, adding : "I believe he tried to start the porta-potty on fire".
The first deadly incident occurred after Rittenhouse took an extinguisher to put out a fire in a car on the lot. As he approached, he said someone shouted "burn in hell!" to which he replied "friendly, friendly, friendly."
He said he dropped the extinguisher as Zaminsky stepped out to confront him. He looked over his shoulder to see Rosenbaum running towards him, saying he was "cornered" between the two men.
Judge Bruce Schroeder called a break after Rittenhouse and his mother, seated in the court, broke down as he described the moment he shot Rosenbaum.
When the the proceedings resumed, Rittenhouse said he heard Zaminsky say "get him and kill him" as Rosenbaum pursued him. He pointed his gun at Rosenbaum but that did not deter him. As he ran again he heard a gunshot behind him and turned to see Rosenbaum right behind him and advancing.
"I remember his hand on the barrel of my gun" Rittenhouse said. He then fired around four times, fatally wounding Rosenbaum.
The Chase
Rittenhouse said he phoned his friends to say he had just shot someone and needed help. Then he heard Rosenbaum's friends Joshua and Kelly Zaminsky were shouting: "Get his ass."
He was pursued down Sheridan Road as he tried get to the police, and heard people shout "cranium him".
Rittenhouse said his first encounter with Gaige Grosskreutz was as he ran, but he did not see him as a threat and did not shoot at him.
Anthony Huber was "holding his skateboard like a baseball bat" and hit him in the neck
He felt light-headed and collapsed, then felt what he thought was a "concrete rock" strike the back of his head".
Then an unidentified man launched a kick at Rittenhouse's face. The teenager said he fired two shots, which missed.
Next, Huber returned and hit Rittenhouse on the neck once again with his skateboard, then "he tried to grab my gun," the teenager said. At that point he fired the shot that struck Huber in the chest and killed him.
Describing how he came to shoot Grosskreutz, Rittenhouse said the other man first approached him in
"I lower my weapon and I see Mr Grosskreutz with his hands up, and as I lower my weapon I look down," he recalled. "Then Mr Grosskreutz, he lunges at me with his pistol pointed directly at my head."
Rittenhouse said that, unlike at their first encounter, Grosskreutz now had a pistol in his hand.
"My gun is down, his hands are up. His pistol is in his hand," the defendant said, mimicking his gestures. "And then Mr Grosskreutz looks at me, and that's when Mr Grosskreutz brings his arm down like this. His arm is like that with me on the ground with his pistol pointed at me, and that's when I shoot him."
Rittenhouse's last shot hit Grosskreutz at very close range in the upper arm, tearing out part of his bicep, but the teenager said he was not aware at that moment where he hit the other man.
"He's no longer a threat to to me," Rittenhouse said when asked why hid did not fire again, saying the only other person he saw close to him backed off with their hands up when he pointed his rifle in their direction.
Rittenhouse denied Grosskreutz's claim that he was "re-racking" his rifle to clear a stoppage before he fired, causing Grosskreutz to think the youth intended to shoot him.
Rittenhouse said he then approached a police car and tried to surrender, saying he had just shot people. The officers replied "get the fuck back or you're gonna gate pepper-sprayed," he said. He then made his way back to his friends, one of whom, Dominic Black, drove him home.
Prosecution Chastised
During cross-examination, Judge Bruce Schroeder reprimanded Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger for trying to attack Rittenhouse over his choice to exercise his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent after he turned himself in to police the day after the shooting.
Binger got a fiercer blast of the judge's wrath later in the proceedings when he tried to sneak in references to video evidence and arguments that Schroeder had already ruled inadmissible.
Binger also tried to suggest that Rittenhouse and Black had learnt to "shoot anyone who comes at you" by playing first-person shooter games liker Call of Duty. Rittenhouse said he did not really play such games.
Binger also tried to cast doubt on the defendant's honesty over his claim to be a member of the fire department in his home town of Antioch, Illinois, when he was merely in its cadet programme.