A Perspective on the Kenosha Shootings

/ Antifa, BLM, Current Events / By / August 31, 2020

Last Tuesday, 3 people were shot during a protest/riot in Kenosha, WI. Two of them fatally. The left and the media (BIRM) were quick to paint the incident as a violent white supremacist gunning down peaceful protesters in cold blood. Yet another example of dangerous right-wing extremists terrorizing noble activists seeking racial justice. Thanks to the obsessive impulse of the narcissistic turds who attend these riots to record their burning and looting sessions on their cellphones, we have a lot of video evidence of the incident. The video evidence does not support the narrative the left is pushing.

The Facts as We Know Them Today

The alleged shooter was 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse. Here is the criminal complaint filed against him.

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Videos show Rittenhouse being interviewed earlier in the evening. He talks about protecting the business he is standing in front of and helping people who have been injured. He claims to be a lifeguard with emergency medical training. He does not come across as angry or wanting a fight at this point.

This next video shows the shooter and all 3 victims at the same location before the violence started. It is clear that one of the eventual victims, Joseph Rosenbaum, is an aggressor at this point. However, his anger doesn’t seem to be directed at Rittenhouse yet.

The next video shows Rittenhouse fleeing down the street and into a parking lot with Rosenbaum giving chase. The first deadly confrontation ensues. It certainly appears that Rittenhouse is trying to get away from Rosenbaum who is chasing him. A single shot can be heard while the two men can still be seen running. The gunshot appears to come from another person following the chase who fires a handgun into the air. When Rosenbaum catches Rittenhouse at the far end of the parking lot, the 1st shooting occurs. This incident appears to be the source of the Count 1: Reckless Homicide (of Rosenbaum) and Count 2: Reckless Endangerment (of witness Richard McGinnis who was behind Rosenbaum when he was shot.)

The last video shows the 2nd and 3rd shootings. Rittenhouse is (apparently) fleeing an angry mob looking to exact some street justice after the 1st shooting. Rittenhouse eventually falls and ends up surrounded. An unidentified man runs up to Rittenhouse and delivers a flying kick to his head. Rittenhouse fired twice at the man and missed as he was flying towards him. This appears to be the source of Count 5: Reckless Endangerment (of an unknown individual.) Immediately afterword, Anthony Huber can be seen being shot once in the chest as he tries to smash Rittenhouse over the head with his skateborad. Rittenhouse was on his back at this point after receiving the drop kick. This is the source of Count 3: First Degree Intentional Homicide (against Huber.) Rittenhouse then points his rifle at Gaige Grosskreutz, who was charging at him. Grosskreutz stops short and shows his hands which are empty. Grosskreutz then slowly circles around Rittenhouse who stays focused on him. Grosskreutz reaches back with his right hand and produces a Glock pistol, at which point Rittenhouse fires his rifle once hitting Grosskreutz in the right elbow. This seems to be the basis for Count 4: Attempted First Degree Intentional Homicide (of Grosskreutz.)

An additional weapons charge was also filed (Count 6: Possession of a Dangerous Weapon by a Person Under 18.)

My Takeaways

Tons of people have already dissected these videos frame-by-frame, so I won’t bother doing that. I do have some overall thougts…

  • First, it is obvious to anybody who watches these clips with an open mind that Rittenhouse was not indiscriminately murdering people. He tried to run away from both confrontations but was unable to escape. He didn’t fire his weapon at anybody that wasn’t actively attacking him. He didn’t shoot Rosenbaum until he was virtually on top of him. I would even go so far as to say he displayed remarkable restraint in the confrontation with Grosskreutz. I believe most people being attacked from multiple directions would have instinctively fired at the guy charging at them at such close distance. Grosskreutz could have easily retreated after he stopped short, but chose to circle around and draw a pistol instead.
  • I personally think the criminal charges related to the 2nd confrontation are ridiculous. A clearer case of self defense would be hard to imagine. My bet would be they were filed just to placate the mob. The attempted murder charge related to Grosskreutz is especially bizarre, since Rittenhouse could have easily killed him if that was his intention and it would have been justifiable.
  • My gut instinct is the 1st confrontation was also a justifiable case of self defense. It’s a little more murky because you can’t really see exactly what happened in the video, and Rosenbaum wasn’t armed. Hopefully, more evidence will come out which will provide context about how and why Rosenbaum was giving chase, and whether Rittenhouse could reasonably have feared death or great bodily harm.
  • It is worth noting that all 3 victims had criminal records. Rosenbaum appears to have spent a good chunk of his adult life in prison for sexually assaulting a minor. The other 2 victims also had criminal records and a past history of violence. To be perfectly clear, this does not mean they deserved to be shot down in the street. But it does indicate the kind of people who show up to these riots. I’m betting they were much more interested in violence and destruction than affirming the “value, dignity, and worth of Black lives.”
  • Given what we know today, I don’t believe Rittenhouse did anything wrong as far as the shootings go. His huge mistake was inserting himself into that situation in the first place. I honestly think he went in with noble intentions, but naively got in way over his head. I don’t believe he wanted to shoot anybody, and it is grossly unfair to make him out as some kind of white supremacist domestic terrorist.
  • Rittenhouse is only 17 years old. As the father of a teenage boy, I can’t imagine allowing my child to go into a riot zone. This seems like an epic parenting fail.
  • There are some hard core criminals at these riots. Just showing up with a weapon won’t deter them from attacking you. Don’t even think about confronting these people with a weapon if you aren’t prepared to actually use it. And face the legal consequences if things go wrong.
  • This was a tragedy all around. There are no winners. Rittenhouse could be facing life in prison. Even if he is eventually found to have acted in self-defense, his whole life will be forever altered. I confess to not having too much sympathy for the rioters. I do, however, have great sympathy for their families and loved ones that have suffered a loss.
  • To me, the real villains in this story are the Mayor of Kenosha and the Governor of Wisconsin. Their fecklessness led to ordinary citizens having to protect their community from out-of-town criminal mobs. It was almost inevitable something like this was going to happen. If trained, equipped, and organized law enforcement and National Guardsmen had been allowed to do their jobs, none of this would have ever happened.