Witness: Kenosha shooting victim was acting ‘belligerently’
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — The first man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse on the streets of Kenosha was acting "belligerently" 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 AR15 semi-automatic rifle to Kenosha last year to help protect property during violent protests against racial injustice, said that Joseph Rosenbaum "asked very bluntly to shoot him" and took a few "false steppings ... to entice someone to do something."
Lackowski got up from the witness stand and demonstrated what he called "false stepping." He took a small step and slight lurch forward, then stopped.
But Lackowski, who was called as a witness by the prosecution, said he viewed Rosenbaum as a "babbling idiot" and turned his back and ignored him.
His testimony showed a contrast between how the experienced military veteran viewed Rosenbaum and earlier testimony that Rittenhouse — who was 17 at the time — may have perceived Rosenbaum as a threat.
Rittenhouse, now 18, is charged with shooting three men, two fatally, in the summer of 2020. The one-time police youth cadet had gone to Kenosha with an AR-style rifle and a medical kit in what he said was an effort to safeguard property from the demonstrations that broke out over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer.
Rittenhouse is white, as were those he shot. Prosecutors have portrayed Rittenhouse as the instigator of the bloodshed, while his lawyer has argued that he acted in self-defense, suggesting among other things that Rittenhouse feared his weapon would be taken away and used against him.
On Thursday, Richie McGinniss, who was recording events on a cellphone that night for the conservative website The Daily Caller, testified that Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse and was gunned down as he lunged for the young man's rifle.
"I think it was very clear to me that he was reaching specifically for the weapon," McGinniss said.