There has been great tension with the Kyle Rittenhouse case. Many showed support for the 17-year-old boy and others showed great disapproval for his actions. On August 25, 2020. In Kenosha, Wisconsin. There was a riot that broke out because of the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer. The riots became extremely violent, and rioters started to commit arson causing over 50 million dollars worth of property damage. 

Around midnight, during the time of the riots, a 17-year-old man shot 3 people, killing 2 of them. The first conflict Rittenhouse faced was when he walked across a parking lot and Joseph Rosenbaum began to follow him along with a few others. Witnesses told the court that the people threatened to kill him. 

Rosenbaum then went after Rittenhouse and attempted to take control of his gun. Rittenhouse, feeling threatened, opened fire on Rosenbaum and shot him four times. Richie McGinniss, who had been standing close to the situation when it happened, went over to aid Rosenbaum. Rittenhouse went over to McGinniss, and was told by McGinniss to call 911. Rittenhouse, after a minute, fled to the police. 

Rittenhouse had his second conflict making his way to the police. Protesters began to give chase towards Rittenhouse. The protests began shouting words like “beat him up,” and “get him! Get that dude!” Following these events, Rittenhouse was struck by a protester knocking down his cap and Rittenhouse with it. 

After Rittenhouse was on the ground more threatening comments were made. One man proceeded to drop kick Rittenhouse causing him to fire two more shots, but both missed to hit the man. Anthony Huber then ran over to Rittenhouse and struck him with a skateboard. Huber began to attempt to take Rittenhouse’s gun from him. They both struggled until Rittenhouse fired at Huber once hitting him in a vital organ causing death. 

Gaige Grosskreutz, another protester that was following Rittenhouse, was carrying an expired concealed carry permit for a Glock pistol. While Grosskreutz was getting closer to Rittenhouse, he put his hands in the air after he witnessed Huber being shot to show he wasn’t a threat. He took a few steps back, then pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Rittenhouse, who immediately shot Grosskreutz bicep off, disarming the threat to him. 

When Rittenhouse finally reached the police he put his hands in the air while his rifle was around his chest. Showing that he was not a threat, and simply wanted to get to the safety of the police. Police at the time did not see him as an active shooter due to the gesture of having his hands in the air, and the stressful situation also reinforced the fact that he wasn’t a shooter due to them focusing on other situations.

After about an hour after the shooting, Rittenhouse returned to Illinois and turned himself into police. Then on November 1, 2021, his trial started and lasted until November 19. Rittenhouse’s charges were, first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, and first-degree recklessly endangering safety on two counts. 

During the case, more information was learned. Rosenbaum, while confronting Rittenhouse, threatened Rittenhouse’s life two times during the conflict. One of them being, “If I catch any of you guys alone tonight I’m going to fu**ing kill you!” Rittenhouse later stated that it was not his intent to kill the man. People at the event stated that after Rittenhouse shot Rosenbaum he looked pale, sweaty, and nervous. 

When going over the victims’ backgrounds of Rosenbaum, Huber, and Grosskreutz,  it shouldn’t be ignored that all have a criminal history. Rosenbaum was a pedophile and had raped a minor, along with eleven counts of child molestation ranging from nine to eleven years old. Huber was a repeat offender of domestic abuse and battery. He also had the use of a dangerous weapon during these domestic abuse charges.  Grosskreutz was charged with a misdemeanor of intoxicated use of a firearm. He has been recently charged for using a weapon to threaten Rittenhouse that had an expired license.

The court found Rittenhouse not guilty on all charges for the incident that took place in Kenosha. The reason that proved his innocence

• The video showed Rosenbaum attacking Rittenhouse with another witness.
• The video showed Huber attacking Rittenhouse with a skateboard.
• Multiple images and videos showed Grosskreutz holding a gun and even admitting to aiming the gun at Rittenhouse. (as shown below)
• Rittenhouse lived nearby Kenosha and had family, a job, and friends there. 
• The rifle never crossed state borders and was in Kenosha. 
• Rittenhouse had previous gun experience.
• Rittenhouse had no racist intent but rather an intent to protect. 

People claim that Rittenhouse was found not guilty due to his white skin color, and that if he had a black skin color he would have been found guilty. Which is false. One, he had evidence as stated above why he was innocent. Two, it is all on the idea of self-defence and if one feels threatened they have the right to defend themselves. And three, a man named St. Paul, who is of black, shot at an officer in self-defence and was acquitted of all charges. 

Rittenhouse, as stated before, was found not guilty for the charges placed against him, as it was all in self-defence. Some people have not yet got all the information and assumed certain events that took place. This article was meant to get rid of any misconception about the Kenosha shooting. The trial videos about the Kenosha shooting should be viewed. (As majority of this information was gathered from the trial)  I advise anyone to learn as much information about events before making uneducated, or irrational assumptions to help learn more about cases such as this.