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Witness: Man Rittenhouse Fatally Shot Acted ‘Erratic’; Hurled N-Word, Shouted ‘Shoot Me’ Near Gas Station

   DailyWire.com
Social media influencer Koerri Washington also known asK OERRI ELIJAH before he testifies during the Kyle Rittenhouse trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse on November 2, 2021 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Mark Hertzberg/ZUMA Press Wire-POOL via Getty Images

Social media influencer Koerri Washington testified during the Kyle Rittenhouse trial on Wednesday, confirming that he has seen videos of Joseph Rosenbaum, a man fatally shot by Rittenhouse, hurling the N-word and yelling “shoot me” near a Kenosha gas station on the night of August 25, 2020.

Washington also told the jury he made a “mental note” of Rosenbaum due to his “erratic” behavior.

The defense team showed Washington video footage — some taken by Mr. Washington himself — from the night Rittenhouse fatally shot two rioters. The witness acknowledged that demonstrators set fires and some were upset that others in the area were putting out those fires. Rosenbaum may have been one of the men shouting that he was upset about the fires being put out.

Washington made a note of Rittenhouse in his mind, too, he said, over the teen “chain smoking cigarettes with gloves on,” finding him “nervous.”

Rittenhouse stood out because he seemed “young,” Washington said, and “didn’t know what was going on. … He seemed nervous in the situation.”

“I guess a lot of people were nervous,” Washington added, “It’s not a slight at [Rittenhouse], it’s just a mental note that I took.”

As highlighted by The Daily Wire, prosecution during pre-trial made note of Rosenbaum’s alleged poor behavior on the night of the incident, attempting to illustrate that there’s “no factual commonality” between his prior alleged actions and the shooting:

“Mr. Rosenbaum started fires that night,” prosecution said. “Well, that has nothing to do with the allegation that he chased after Mr. Rittenhouse and tried to physically attack him. Arsonist — or alleged arson, has nothing to do with an alleged physical assault. There is an allegation that Mr. Rosenbaum was shouting racial slurs; that has nothing to do with physical assault.”

“There’s an allegation that he’s telling other people at [a] gas station to shoot him, which, really, is different than what was going on with Mr. Rittenhouse,” he argued. “Um, he clearly didn’t want Mr. Rittenhouse to shoot him. So, I don’t see that there’s any commonality, there.”

“So, this is bad character evidence, your honor,” prosecution claimed. “This is an attempt to tell the jury Mr. Rosenbaum was a bad guy and deserved to die. That’s really what it is.”

“‘He was an arsonist, he was a rioter, he was starting fights — well, not starting fights, he was starting problems, he’s disorderly, he was loud — whatever. Therefore, it was okay for the defendant to kill him.’ That’s really what’s going on here, your honor.”

It seems the prosecution is trying to extinguish the narrative that Rosenbaum is a “bad guy,” which has been circulating in news reports since the fatal shooting. For example, Rosenbaum’s criminal history and alleged sexual abuse of minors surfaced online after the riot.

Snopes reported that the claim Rosenbaum was “convicted of sexually abusing at least one child” is “true,” per criminal records:

For example, yes, at age 19, Rosenbaum was sentenced to prison for sexually abusing five children — all boys between the ages of 9 and 11 — in Arizona’s Pima County in early 2002, according to his case file obtained via a public records request by Snopes.

The documents said Rosenbaum was temporarily living with the boys’ parents after his mother had kicked him out for disobeying her rules about one month earlier. Over the course of his weeks-long stay, Rosenbaum molested the boys, showed them porn, and performed oral sex on them, among other offenses, the documents showed. He was sentenced to prison for roughly 15 years, and authorities believed at the time “his risk to recidivate being of great concern to the community” considering the victims’ gender and age. (Let us note here: The records included an interview with Rosenbaum in which he said his stepfather sexually abused him and his brother on an almost daily basis when he was a preteen.)

Considering that evidence, the claim that Rosenbaum at one point was convicted of sexually abusing at least one child before his death was true.

The prosecution, of course, is arguing past sins are irrelevant to the shooting.

Rittenhouse was 17 years old when he was arrested for fatally shooting Rosenbaum and one other man, as well as injuring a third during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He is charged with five felony counts and one misdemeanor, including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, and possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18.

The teen pleaded not guilty in January, claiming he acted in self-defense.

Related: WATCH: Prosecutor Lists Numerous Alleged Crimes Of Man Kyle Rittenhouse Fatally Shot, Downplays As Irrelevant

Related: Rittenhouse Trial: Judge Will ‘Likely’ Allow Police Officer-Related Video Defense Believes Helps Rittenhouse

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