(Reuters) - Kyle Rittenhouse, a teenager arrested and charged in the shootings in Wisconsin that led to the death of two people and injury of another, faces six criminal counts, according to a court document released on Thursday.
A man with a firearm raises his hands up as he walks towards vehicles during a protest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., August 25, 2020, in this still image obtained from a social media video. Brendan Gutenschwager/via REUTERS
The charges against Rittenhouse in Kenosha County include first degree intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber, who was carrying a skateboard when he was gunned down. A conviction on that charge alone carries a life sentence.
Rittenhouse, 17, is being held in Illinois where he lives. He has a court hearing on Friday for his requested extradition to Kenosha. The public defender assigned to his case in Lake County, Illinois has declined to comment.
The charges were detailed in a criminal complaint released by Kenosha County’s clerk of courts. The document is the first detailed disclosure of the case against Rittenhouse for his role in the violence that erupted on Tuesday night when armed militia members clashed with protesters in the city.
The protests started after Jacob Blake was shot multiple times in the back by a police officer on Sunday afternoon.
Rittenhouse was also charged with causing the death of Joseph Rosenbaum, a 36-year-old demonstrator who he shot in the parking lot of a used car dealer just before midnight on Tuesday, according to the complaint, which draws on multiple cell phone videos and witness accounts.
One video records Rittenhouse saying “I just killed somebody” after shooting Rosenbaum, the complaint says.
Rittenhouse was carrying a Smith & Wesson AR-15 style rifle and “was not handling the weapon very well,” one witness states in the complaint. “The recovered magazine for this rifle holds 30 rounds of ammunition,” the complaint says.
The complaint says one video shows Huber, with a skateboard in his right hand, approaching Rittenhouse when he was on the ground. Huber appears then to try and grab the gun from Rittenhouse with his left hand before Rittenhouse fires.
“Huber staggers away, taking several steps, then collapses to the ground. Huber subsequently died from this gunshot wound,” the complaint says.
RLnaab on August 28th, 2020 at 01:24 UTC »
Looking for neutral unbiased answers.
How many of these charges do you think will stick?
Bozinthecalm on August 27th, 2020 at 23:59 UTC »
Charges are as Follows
Count 1: FIRST DEGREE RECKLESS HOMICIDE, USE OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON Count 2: FIRST DEGREE RECKLESSLY ENDANGERING SAFETY, USE OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON Count 3: FIRST DEGREE INTENTIONAL HOMICIDE, USE OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON Count 4: ATTEMPT FIRST DEGREE INTENTIONAL HOMICIDE, USE OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON Count 5: FIRST DEGREE RECKLESSLY ENDANGERING SAFETY, USE OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON Count 6: POSSESSION OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON BY A PERSON UNDER 18All in all you're looking at upwards to 20+ years... That said I would not be surprised if sentencing was incredibly lax.
TheCavis on August 27th, 2020 at 23:35 UTC »
The PDF, if you would like to read the full complaint.
Reckless homicide for the first shooting (Joseph D. Rosenbaum). First degree murder for the guy with the skateboard (Anthony Huber). Attempted first degree for the guy with a pistol. First degree reckless endangering for a witness and the first guy to jump over him when he fell. Possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor.
Witness was interviewing the shooter. It's noted in the report that the witness thought the shooter wasn't handling the AR-15 well. Another armed person approached saying he was there to help the shooter. Rosenbaum approached the shooter, but the shooter juked and ran, which is where the videos generally start. Rosenbaum threw an object, which shown in a separate video to be plastic bag. At sometime between the shooter turning towards Rosenbaum and the first shot, Rosenbaum tried to grab the gun (the exact order is unclear as the witness is going back over events in an imperfectly linear order; it sounds like Rosenbaum tried to grab it before the shooter raised the gun, the shooter pulled back, Rosenbaum may have grabbed it again as the first shots were fired). The witness was in the line of fire when the shooting started and thought the first shot hit the pavement.
The complaint mentions five shots (one, followed by four) in the first shooting but the video I saw sounded like eight (one, four, three). I'm not sure if the last three were from elsewhere or were irrelevant or if I'm counting echos there. As has been clarified below, there was one shot from a pistol by an individual caught on video, four shots from the AR-15 and then three pistol shots from an unknown source.
Rosenbaum had five gunshot wounds: groin (fractured pelvis), back (perforated his lung/liver), left hand, graze to the left thigh, graze to the forehead.
After the shooting, the shooter called a friend to say he shot someone and then ran away.
The report covers the run, the trip, the first guy jumping at the shooter (missed, but also dodged two bullets) and then Huber (skateboard). For Huber, he hit the shooter with a skateboard and tried to pull the gun away. He died from a single shot that perforated his heart, aorta, pulmonary artery and right lung.
NAL, but the reading seems to treat Rosenbaum's shooting as reckless because it stemmed from that initial confrontation/chase and Huber's as first degree because it assumes that the skateboard was an attempt to disarm a fleeing armed and dangerous suspect.
/u/btbrian linked me to this Twitter thread from the NYTimes annotating the videos that were taken. One point I missed: when I heard one shot, four shots and then three shots, the first shot was not from the shooter. There was someone behind the chase who fired in the air. It's not clear whether this is the "another armed person approached" I mentioned in the second bullet point or another militia member or a bystander.