Jurors heard starkly different portrayals of Kyle Rittenhouse -- instigator or victim -- in opening statements at his trial Tuesday on charges of shooting three people on the streets of Kenosha during a turbulent protest against racial injustice.
A prosecutor said Rittenhouse set the bloodshed in motion when he triggered a confrontation with a man that night and then killed him with a bullet to the back.
The teenager traveled to Kenosha from his home in Illinois, just across the Wisconsin state line, after protests broke out over the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white Kenosha police officer. Rittenhouse said he went there to protect property after two nights in which rioters set fires and ransacked businesses.
Afterward, Black said, Rittenhouse was "freaking out. He was really scared. He was pale, shaking a lot." Black said Rittenhouse told him that he acted in self-defense because "people were trying to hurt him." The prosecutor said that it is not known exactly what words were said, but it is clear that Rittenhouse started a confrontation that led Joseph Rosenbaum to begin chasing Rittenhouse across a parking lot.
Binger, the prosecutor, said that after shooting Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse fled the scene instead of rendering aid, despite portraying himself as a medic earlier in the night. But Richards said Rittenhouse didn't stop to help because the crowd wanted to "kill him," and instead ran toward police.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Prosecutor says Kyle Rittenhouse instigated Kenosha bloodshedKyle Rittenhouse instigated the confrontation that led him to shoot three people on the streets of Kenosha during a turbulent protest against racial injustice, and he killed one of the victims with a shot to the back, a prosecutor told the jury during opening statements Tuesday at Rittenhouse's murder trial.
Read more »
Prosecutor says Kyle Rittenhouse instigated bloodshed during Kenosha unrestProsecutor Thomas Binger says that amid the anger and chaos in the streets of Kenosha during the unrest, ‘the only person who killed anyone is the defendant, Kyle Rittenhouse’
Read more »
Opening statements begin in Kyle Rittenhouse murder trialOpening statements have begun in the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the aspiring police officer who shot three people who were out on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a protest against racial injustice last year.
Read more »
Stern judge among key players in Kyle Rittenhouse trial as jury selection to beginTrial of Kyle Rittenhouse, accused of killing two people at a police brutality protest last year, is expected to last at least two weeks
Read more »