![]() that summer over police violence against Black people. While Rittenhouse is white, as were those he shot, the case has stirred racially fraught debate over vigilantism, the right to bear arms, and the unrest that erupted around the U.S. He said he provided medical assistance to about 10 other people that night in Kenosha. Grosskreutz said he attended around 75 protests before the night he was shot, offering help to anyone needing medical attention. Grosskreutz, who was trained as a paramedic, testified that he volunteered as a medic at protests in Milwaukee in the days after George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020. Rittenhouse is convicted, your chance of getting 10 million bucks is better, right?” Chirafisi said.Ĭhirafisi also asked Grosskreutz if he told his former roommate that his only regret was “not killing the kid and hesitating to pull the gun before emptying the entire mag into him.” Grosskreutz denied saying that.Īt the defense table, Rittenhouse took detailed notes when the witness spoke about the moment he was shot. In addition, Chirafisi pointed to Grosskreutz’s lawsuit against the city of Kenosha, in which he alleges police enabled the violence by allowing an armed militia to have the run of the streets during the demonstration. Grosskreutz denied he was chasing Rittenhouse.Ĭhirafisi also said Grosskreutz lied when he initially told multiple police officers that he dropped his weapon. On cross-examination, Chirafisi sought to portray Grosskreutz as dishonest in his description of the moments right before he was shot, with Chirafisi asserting that Grosskreutz was chasing Rittenhouse with his gun out. They can do so by their actions, “like running after them down the street with a loaded firearm,” Chirafisi said. While Grosskreutz said he never verbally threatened Rittenhouse, Chirafisi, the defense attorney, said that people don’t have to use words to threaten others. He said he went into action after seeing Rittenhouse kill a man just feet away - the second person Rittenhouse fatally shot that night. “And that night was no different than any other day. I’m for people’s right to carry and bear arms,” he said, explaining why he was armed. He said his permit to carry a concealed weapon had expired and he did not have a valid one that night. Grosskreutz said he had gone to the protest in Kenosha to serve as a medic, wearing a hat that said “paramedic” and carrying medical supplies, in addition to a loaded pistol. Wisconsin’s self-defense law allows someone to use deadly force only if “necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm.” The jury must decide whether Rittenhouse believed he was in such peril and whether that belief was reasonable under the circumstances. ![]() Grosskreutz, under follow-up questioning from the prosecutor, said he did not intend to point his weapon at Rittenhouse. The defense also presented a photo showing Grosskreutz pointing the gun at Rittenhouse, who was on the ground with his rifle pointed up at Grosskreutz. ![]() And definitely not somebody I would want to become.”īut during cross-examination, Rittenhouse defense attorney Corey Chirafisi asked: “It wasn’t until you pointed your gun at him, advanced on him … that he fired, right?” That’s not why I was out there,” he said. “That’s not the kind of person that I am. Prosecutor Thomas Binger asked Grosskreutz why he didn’t shoot first. Under questioning from the prosecution, Grosskreutz said he had his hands raised as he closed in on Rittenhouse and didn’t intend to shoot the young man. He could get life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges against him. His lawyers have argued that he acted in self-defense. Prosecutors have portrayed Rittenhouse as the instigator of the bloodshed. The one-time police youth cadet from Antioch, Illinois, had gone to Kenosha with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle and a medical kit in what he said was an effort to safeguard property from the violent demonstrations that broke out over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer. ![]() Rittenhouse, now 18, is on trial on charges of killing two men and wounding Grosskreutz. Rittenhouse shot Grosskreutz in the arm, tearing away much of his bicep - or “vaporized” it, as the witness put it.
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