Witness: Kenosha victim was belligerent but no threat

The first KENOSHA, WIS. — man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse on the streets of Kenosha was acting “bellig- erently” that night but did not appear to pose a serious threat to anyone, a witness testified Friday at Rittenhouse’s murder trial.

Jason Lackowski, a former Marine who said he took an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to Kenosha last year to help protect property during violent protests against racial injustice, said Joseph Rosenbaum “asked very bluntly to shoot him” and took a few “false steppings ... to entice some- one to do something.”

Lackowski got up from the witness stand and demon- strated what he called “false stepping.” He took a small step and slight lurch forward.

But Lackowski, who was called as a witness by the prosecution, said he considered Rosenbaum a “babbling idiot” and turned his back and ignored him. He admitted he didn’t see everything that went on between Rit- tenhouse and Rosenbaum.

In other testimony, the prosecution suffered a poten- tial blow when Rosenbaum’s fiancee, Kariann Swart, disclosed he was on medication for bipolar disorder and depression but didn’t fill his prescriptions because the local pharmacy was boarded up as a result of the unrest — information Rittenhouse’s lawyers could use in their bid to portray Rosenbaum as the aggressor that night.

The judge allowed the defense to elicit testimony about Rosenbaum’s mental illness because prosecutors brought up mention of medication. Had prosecutors not touched on the topic, it is unlikely the judge would have let the defense bring it up.

Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with shooting three men, two fatally, in the summer of 2020.