Rittenhouse found not guilty in Kenosha shootings
The Wisconsin jury weighing Kyle Rittenhouse’s fate acquitted Rittenhouse on all counts Friday after deliberating for nearly three and a half days.
Rittenhouse, 18, from Antioch, Illinois, was charged with reckless homicide in the slaying of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber, 26, on Aug. 25, 2020. The shootings occurred during protests days earlier over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot by a White Kenosha police officer.
Rittenhouse was cleared of attempted intentional homicide in the shooting of Gaige Grosskreutz, a paramedic from suburban Milwaukee, who was at the protests working as a medic. Rittenhouse also was acquitted on two counts of recklessly endangering safety and use of a dangerous weapon.
As the verdict was read, Rittenhouse began sobbing and collapsed at the defense table as families of the victims were seen crying in court. Rittenhouse, who testified at the trial, claimed self-defense.
Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, shot and killed Rosenbaum, 36, and Huber, 26, and injured Grosskreutz, who was 26 at the time. Rittenhouse testified that he fired in self-defense and pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The verdict in the politically combustible case was met with anger and disappointment from those who saw Rittenhouse as a vigilante and a wannabe cop, and relief and a sense of vindication from those who regarded him as a patriot who took a stand against lawlessness and exercised his Second Amendment right to carry a gun and to defend himself.