On November 8, witness Gaige Grosskreutz, the only man who survived being shot by Kyle Rittenhouse, admitted that Rittenhouse did not shoot him until he pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Rittenhouse.
During the Rittenhouse trial, Grosskreutz, who was on the ground working as a medic for left-wing rioters, denied that he was trying to kill Rittenhouse and that he had only pursued Rittenhouse after someone shouted ‘medic.’ Grosskreutz also says that he believed Rittenhouse was an active shooter and only aimed a firearm at the then-17-year-old because he feared for his life.
“I do know that I was never trying to kill the defendant. That was never something I was trying to do,” Grosskreutz claimed. “In that moment, I was trying to preserve my own life. But doing so while taking the life of another is not something I am capable of or comfortable doing.”
However, the video of the shooting appears to disagree. Initially, Rittenhouse aimed but did not shoot Grosskreutz when he approached Rittenhouse at breakneck speed and stopped short with his hands up. It wasn’t until Grosskreutz went down, continued to close the distance between the two, drew his pistol, and aimed it at Rittenhouse that Rittenhouse shot Grosskreutz arm with which he was wielding the gun.
“That’s a photo of you, yes,” Rittenhouse’s defence asked, referring to a screenshot from the video that depicts Grosskreutz with a gun pointed at Rittenhouse, who has, in turn, shot Grosskreutz’s gun arm.
“Yes,” Grosskreutz replied.
“That’s Mr. Rittenhouse,” the defence continued.
“Correct.”
“Do you agree your firearm is pointed at Mr. Rittenhouse, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And once your firearm is pointed at Mr. Rittenhouse, that’s when he fires his gun. Yes?
“No.”
“Does this look like right now your arm is being shot?”
“That looks like my bicep being vaporized, yes.”
“And it’s being vaporized as you’re pointing your gun directly at [Rittenhouse]. Yes?”
“Yes,” confirmed Grosskreutz.
“So, when you were standing three to five feet from [Rittenhouse] with your arms up in the air, [Rittenhouse] never fired, right?”
“Correct.”
“It wasn’t until you pointed your gun at [Rittenhouse], advanced on him with your gun — now your hand’s down, pointed at him — that he fired, right?”
“Correct,” said Grosskreutz.
While this damning admission should make this an open-and-shut case of self-defence, the political drive to see Rittenhouse convicted for murder lingers in the background and may play a role in the decision.
Unfortunately, few media outlets are focusing on this ground-breaking piece of evidence and admission, instead choosing to focus on Grosskreutz feelings during and after the shooting, only adding fuel to the fire ready to explode should Rittenhouse be found innocent of all charges.
