Watch: Man Who Admitted to Pointing Gun at Rittenhouse Says Teen Acted 'Like a Child' Crying on Stand
Gaige Grosskreutz, a man who admitted in testimony this week that he was shot in the arm by Kyle Rittenhouse only after he advanced on him with a .40 caliber handgun, chastised the teen for crying on the stand this week.
Rittenhouse broke down on Wednesday when he began to recount his deadly encounter with a man named Joseph Rosenbaum, who he shot and killed. In a Thursday interview with Michael Strahan on “Good Morning America,” a witness for the defense who was also shot said that Rittenhouse’s emotional testimony made him seem like a “child.”
“To me, it seemed like a child who just gotten caught doing something that he wasn’t supposed to — more upset that he was caught and less upset about what he had done, and what he had taken and the numerous lives that he affected through his actions that night,” Grosskreutz said.
He later added: “I think the most important thing to remember is that Kyle Rittenhouse was an active shooter. He murdered two men, and he attempted to murder me.”
EXCLUSIVE: “To me, he seemed like a child … more upset that he was caught and less upset about what he had done … and the numerous lives that he affected.” — Gage Grosskreutz, the sole survivor shot by Kyle Rittenhouse, reacts to his testimony. https://t.co/DRURCHHX5R pic.twitter.com/wIKHjbVyH1
— Good Morning America (@GMA) November 11, 2021
Here is the interview in its entirety:
Despite having just witnessed the teen being drop-kicked and hit with a skateboard allegedly by a man named Anthony Huber while running from a mob, Grosskreutz challenged the sincerity of Rittenhouse’s emotions and statements he made that he was acting to preserve his own life.
We, of course, have not seen anything so absurd relating to this trial since Wednesday. That was when prosecutor Thomas Binger insisted while examining the teen on the stand that he should have dropped his weapon after shooting Rosenbaum, Huber and Grosskreutz to offer them medical aid while a still-hostile crowd continued to pursue him.
The prosecutor points out that Rittenhouse, who claims he was there to provide medical assistance, didn’t offer help to any of the people he had just shot — even when one of his victims was yelling for help pic.twitter.com/9LtpEkbvM6
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 10, 2021
This trial has been a stretch for the prosecution, which has been humiliated time and again — especially when Grosskreutz admitted during his testimony that he was pointing a handgun at Rittenhouse, and only then was he shot in the arm.
WISCONSIN—Rittenhouse trial:
Defense: “With your arms up in the air, he never fired?”
Gaige Grosskreutz: “Correct.”
Defense: “It wasn’t until you pointed your gun at him, advanced on him, with your gun…pointed at him that he fired?”
Grosskreutz: “Correct”.#KyleRittenhouse pic.twitter.com/BIU5K1aV6V
— Bree A Dail (@breeadail) November 8, 2021
What about that testimony makes Rittenhouse’s final trigger pull anything but self-defense? Certainly Grosskreutz is upset about the loss of function to his arm, which is understandable. But he should have never been put into a position to weigh in on the validity of the emotions of the person who shot him.
What we saw from Rittenhouse during his breakdown looked an awful lot like an emotional response to a traumatic event.
Kyle Rittenhouse breaks down on witness stand while discussing his interaction with Joseph Rosenbaum, a man he is charged with fatally shooting during a chaotic 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. https://t.co/g1JuT1l72o pic.twitter.com/40cGzH2G32
— ABC News (@ABC) November 10, 2021
The teen, by looking at all available evidence presented in court, never opened fire on anyone until he felt his life was in danger.
Any person might view a grown man standing over them with a .40 caliber handgun under those circumstances as threatening. Few people can imagine the weight of having shot three men at a riot and knowing that they killed two of them. It looked an awful lot like the situation weighed heavy on the mind of Rittenhouse.
Grosskreutz is, of course, entitled to say whatever he wants about the teen. He is forever physically scarred by his encounter with him and the two will forever be connected because of that.
The real culprit in this repugnant and public attack on the emotions of Rittenhouse amid an ongoing trial is ABC News. Those at the network watched Grosskreutz’s damning testimony this week, and still portrayed him as a victim of a shooting where he admitted, in so many words, that his actions were that of an aggressor.
People at ABC News actually saw Grosskreutz admit on the stand that he was pointing a pistol at an armed and very afraid teenager when he was shot. They still invited him on to weigh in, and even painted him as a sympathetic “survivor” of a “protest.”
The prosecution in two weeks of trial has arguably not proved its case, but the jury will decide that beginning next week. With a lot at stake, ABC News is attempting to influence public opinion. Those at the network are pulling for nothing short of a conviction to make Rittenhouse a memory.
Why is that, exactly? It’s because the teen, regardless of whether he should have been present at a riot, has become a prominent figure nationwide. Rittenhouse represents for many Americans opposition to a notion that decent people are supposed to surrender when their lives and property are being threatened by lawless mobs.
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