KENOSHA, Wisc. — Kyle Rittenhouse opted to testify as part of his own defense on Wednesday as the high-profile trial he's at the center of continued in court.
Rittenhouse explained he was working at a recreation center in Kenosha County when the riots broke out after Jacob Blake, who was armed with a knife, was shot by a Kenosha police officer when he ignored police orders and tried to enter a vehicle while his two children were in the backseat.
Rittenhouse explained he and his friend, Dominick Black, went to downtown Kenosha after the first set of riots to look at the damage and see if they could help in any way. They joined a group to help clean graffiti off of buildings for about an hour and a half. They later encountered the owners of the car dealership and said they could help protect the remaining property.
On the night of the shooting, Rittenhouse said Joseph Rosenbaum threatened him two times prior to the shooting. As Rittenhouse explained, during the first encounter, Rosenbaum said he was going to kill him while he was armed with a chain. During the second encounter, Rosenbaum said the N-word while saying he was going to rip Rittenhouse's heart out.
GRAPHIC LANGUAGE: Kyle Rittenhouse describes multiple threats against his life by Joseph Rosenbaum. pic.twitter.com/2jGuwMd7Tu
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Rittenhouse said he got a call from his friend to go to the car lot down the street because rioters were setting fires and smashing cars. Rittenhouse asked for a fire extinguisher and someone at the gas station to go with him, but the individual didn't accompany him. Rittenhouse said he went to the lot but was ambushed by Rosenbaum, who came out from between two cars.
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Rittenhouse started to break down crying at which point Judge Bruce Schroeder had to call for a ten-minute break. After the brief recess, Rittenhouse testified at first that he thought Rosenbaum threw the chain he had seen earlier because it looked silver in reflecting light. Rittenhouse said Rosenbaum kept running towards him and lunged when Rittenhouse turned and pointed his AR-15.
Rittenhouse said he had to shoot Rosenbaum to defend himself because Rosenbaum was grabbing the AR-15 and he couldn't run any further away due to cars blocking his path. Rittenhouse explained that he then started to run toward police officers because he didn't do anything wrong and he felt it was no longer safe by the car lot since a crowd was yelling to "get him!"
Rittenhouse also said that when Anthony Huber hit him with the skateboard after falling down, he felt the AR-15 being pulled away from him so he shot Huber. Rittenhouse added he lowered the AR-15 when he saw Gaige Grosskreutz put his hands in the air. As Rittenhouse explained, he only shot Grosskreutz when he advanced towards him with a handgun pointed at his head. Rittenhouse added that what Grosskreutz said about Rittenhouse manually racking his rifle was not true. Video taken on the night of the shooting also does not support Grosskreutz's claim.
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