A man shot by then 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse last year admitted in court Monday that he was pointing a gun at Rittenhouse when the teen fired.
Rittenhouse shot Gaige Grosskreutz, then 26 at the time, during a riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020. Grosskreutz, then armed with a pistol, had approached Rittenhouse moments after the teen had been attacked by two others and was laying on the ground. Grosskreutz pointed his weapon at Rittenhouse before the teen, who was armed with a rifle, turned his firearm on Grosskreutz, firing and hitting the older man’s arm.
Under questioning from Rittenhouse defense attorney Corey Chirafisi, Grosskreutz testified that Rittenhouse fired on him after Grosskreutz had pointed his pistol at Rittenhouse. Chirafisi began the line of questioning with a still image from a video showing the moment Rittenhouse shot Grosskreutz, showing Grosskreutz’s arm being “vaporized,” as the witness said.
Corey Chirafisi: Now, you’d agree your firearm is pointed at Mr. Rittenhouse. Correct?
Gaige Grosskreutz: Yes.
CC: Okay. And once your firearm is pointed at Mr. Rittenhouse, that’s when he fires his gun. Yes?
GG: No.
CC: Sir, look, I don’t want to – does this look like right now your arm is being shot?
GG: That looks like my bicep being vaporized, yes.
CC: Okay. And it’s being vaporized as you’re pointing your gun directly at him. Yes?
GG: Yes.
CC: Okay. So when you were standing 3-5 feet from him with your arms up in the air, he never fired. Right?
GG: Correct.
CC: It wasn’t until you pointed your gun at him, advanced on him with your gun — now your hands down — pointed at him that he fired. Right?
GG: Correct.
“It wasn’t until you pointed your gun at him, advanced on him with your gun pointed at him, that he fired, right?”
Witness who was shot by Rittenhouse:
“Correct”
pic.twitter.com/guEO6sle59— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) November 8, 2021
Grosskreutz testified that he feared for his life and did not intend to shoot Rittenhouse.
“That was never something I was trying to do,” Grosskreutz said at one point during his testimony, according to The Washington Post. “At that moment I was trying to preserve my own life. Trying to take the life of another is not something I am … capable of doing. … That’s not why I was out there.”
Grosskreutz was the third man shot by Rittenhouse on August 25, 2020, the third night of rioting in Kenosha following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man. Rittenhouse shot and killed two other men, 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber, moments before he shot Grosskreutz.
Rittenhouse had traveled to Kenosha from his nearby home in Antioch, Illinois, on August 25 to help defend a local car dealership and to administer first aid to anyone harmed in the chaos. At one point in the night, Rittenhouse was repeatedly confronted by several men, including Rosenbaum and Huber. Huber attacked Rittenhouse with a skateboard.
Rittenhouse is facing six total charges, five felonies, and one misdemeanor stemming from that night. The felony charges are intentional homicide, reckless homicide, attempted intentional homicide, and two counts of reckless endangerment. The misdemeanor charge is underage possession of a deadly weapon.
Rittenhouse faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.
Related: Rittenhouse Trial: Prosecution, Defense Debate Self-Defense In Opening Arguments