Rittenhouse was underage.
Yes. Meaning Ritt was a "child" who was attacked by three adults, one of them a convicted pedophile. And I mean an actual pedophile. Rosenbaum had raped preteen boys.
Yes, meaning you agree Rittenhouse did not buy the AR-15 he was carrying that night in Kenosha, he gave his 18 year old friend money to buy it. The weapon was not a gift, but he did get it from Black.
I am aware Rosenbaum was convicted of two counts of sexual conduct with a minor as a result of a plea deal. Rittenhouse could not have known that and Rosenbaum wasn't sexually assaulting him, so it's not all that relevant. What is relevant is that Rosenbaum was being very aggressive that night and Rittenhouse was afraid of him.
He could not legally purchase that weapon nor have it in his possession In the state where he lived (Illinois) so he got his friend Dominick Black (recently arrested for armed robbery, btw) who lived in Wisconsin to buy and store it for him.
Yes. He planned to transfer it in his name when he turned 18. What does that have to do with Ritt's self defense against the Antifa assailants?
You expressed an interest in getting the facts straight. I thought you were being serious.
Btw, how do you know about the robbery?
I looked up the name of Rittenhouse's friend so that I got it right and Google provided links to his recent arrest.
Black later took a plea deal to avoid prison on two felony counts of intent to deliver a dangerous weapon to a minor.
And he testified for teh Some friend, eh!
Yes, some friend. Willing to buy an AR-15 for a teenager and hand it over to him before he's old enough to legally have it in his possession.
Not many people would be willing to break the law just because their 17 year old friend can't wait to get his hands on the weapon most often used in school shootings and other mass killings.
The daily protests and nightly rioting had been going on for two days before the night Rittenhouse went to Kenosha ostensibly to visit Black.
Why "ostensibly"? He and his sister (who was dating Black at the time) went to Kenosha to visit Black.
He, Black, and Black's father decided to arm themselves and head downtown to "protect" businesses.
That was the following night. During the day, Ritt helped clean graffiti left by the Jacob Blake rioters.
That is how a teenager who was too young to legally own or carry the weapon he was bradishing wound up shooting an aggressive man (Rosenbaum) that he knew was unarmed but who scared him very badly, and the bystanders who tried stop him in order to prevent more shooting/killing.
Rosenbaum did more than scare him. He chased him, cornered him, and went for his gun.
That is an assertion, not a known fact. I linked to the testimony of the medical examiner who investigated the deaths of Rosenbaum and Huber. It cannot be determined if Rosenbaum was trying to take the AR-15 or shove the barrel aside when Rittenhouse aimed it at him. Rosenbaum is dead so he's can't say what he was doing and the video evidence is inconclusive.
Had Rosenbaum not done this, none of this would have happened.
Had Rittenhouse not gone to where the protests were taking place, it wouldn't have happened.
Had Black not bought the AR-15 and let Rittenhouse take it, it wouldn't have happened.
Had Rosenbaum smoked pot (Indica, not Sativa) and binge-watched Spongebob Squarepants instead of going out that night, it wouldn't have happened.
Had
Joshua Ziminski not fired a shot into the air as Rittenhouse ran from Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse might not have been so convinced he had to shoot Rosenbaum.
But Rittenhouse did get an AR-15 from Black, he did go to where protests had turned into riots on previous nights, he did piss off Rosenbaum and get chased, Rosenbaum did badly frighten a teenager with a military grade rifle, Rittenhouse did open fire, bystanders did try to disarm Rittenhouse, Rittenhouse did fire at them, he did fatally wound Huber and non-fatally wound Grosskreutz, and fortunately missed the unidentified man in light colored jeans who also tried to stop him because he was a danger to the people around him.
Rosenbaum was definitely aggressive and Rittenhouse was definitely afraid of him. Witnesses say Rittenhouse had pointed his gun at a group of people
Which witnesses?
The ones whose testimony was used to support the
Prosecution's case.
I don't know.
You can do your own research, you know. I have not heard of any witnesses being challenged on the truthfulness of their testimony but if you think any of them aren't credible you can let us know which ones you think we should ignore.
and that appears to be why Rosenbaum shouted "Fuck you!" at Rittenhouse, threw a plastic bag at him and chased him as Rittenhouse ran.
Which means that you acknowledge that Rosenbaum is first to use physical force against Ritt.
I acknowledge that Rosenbaum was being very aggressive that night, that he yelled "Fuck you!" and threw a plastic bag at Rittenhouse, and that he chased Rittenhouse.
I also acknowledge that Rittenhouse was a scared teenager who was afraid of the aggressive man running after him.
I have reported the allegation that Rittenhouse provoked Rosenbaum by pointed his AR-15 in Rosenbaum's direction, and I have been careful to label it an allegation so you don't mischaracterize my post.
Note that Rosenbaum was
already agitated and was pushing a burning container, ostensibly to set a building on fire.
I already did note he was being very aggressive that night, which IMO is more pertinent to his running after Rittenhouse and Rittenhouse being afraid of him than his pushing a dumpster with a trash fire inside it earlier.
The county medical examiner
testified it was unclear if Rosenbaum was trying to take Rittenhouse's gun or trying to shove the barrel away when he closed with Rittenhouse.
A
witness says that Rosenbaum lunged for the weapon while cursing at Ritt. Even if Rosenbaum was trying to swat the barrel away, he was still the aggressor. It is not on the victim of an attack to have to decide, in real time, what the crazy assailant's plans are.
What's with the cutesy nickname?
It's far shorter than having to type "Rittenhouse" every time.
Rittenhouse fired 4 shots when he was surrounded by people, fatally wounding one of them, ran a short distance and fell, then fired off 2 more rounds at a man trying to stop him, then fatally shot Huber who was trying to disarm him, then he shot Grosskreutz.
And he was acquitted on grounds of self defense on all those counts.
All three of the men Rittenhouse shot at after he shot Rosenbaum were attempting to stop an active shooter who had just killed someone.
Correction: they were attempting to stop whom they thought was an "active shooter"
And they were right.
Like it or not, Rittenhouse was the guy with an AR-15 running away from the scene of a fatal shooting who then shot 2 rounds at a man trying to stop him before Huber intervened, and then fatally shot Huber before Grosskreutz tried to stop him as well.
I think this is the crux of our disagreement.
I think you want Rittenhouse to be seen as some kind of hero. You're spinning everything to make him look noble and justified, but he made some very bad choices no doubt due to him thinking and acting like the clueless teenager he was. He brought a weapon he could not legally own or carry, one he had no practice or training to safely handle, into a dangerous situation he was unprepared to face, so he could hang out with a militia that was described by the county sheriff as acting
"like a group of vigilantes". Even if he hadn't crossed paths with Rosenbaum he was still breaking the law by carrying that weapon and violating the curfew.
Huber and Grosskreutz were the heroes. They heard the gunshots and people saying someone had just been shot, and saw Rittenhouse use his AR-15 to fire off 2 rounds at the guy in light colored jeans. From their perspective, Rittenhouse was an active shooter. They very bravely tried to stop him before he killed anyone else. Rittenhouse then shot Huber, proving beyond doubt that he was a threat to others, but Grosskreutz still tried to stop him before being shot himself.
, but who in reality was just a kid who defended himself, albeit with deadly force, from a crazy attacker. That why it's important, to paraphrase Ricky Roma, to not act in a situation like this
till you know what the shot is. They did not observe the shooting, nor the proceeding confrontation, and had no way of knowing what had happened or if they guy they were chasing and ultimately attacked was a bad guy or not.
There is no time in an active shooter situation to investigate like you suggest. You choices are to either run for cover or try to stop the person(s) doing the shooting.
Normally in the Right wing blog-o-sphere that would make them heroes
Heroes would be for example people stopping an armed robbery. But they are witnessing the robbery and know "what the shot is". And I hope more than "right wing blog-o-sphere" would applaud them.
but since this happened at a protest in response to an LEO involved killing,
- It was a riot, not a legitimate protest.
- The shooting was justified as the perp was armed with a knife that he refused to drop. Moreover, there were three little children he had no custody of, in the car that was not his and that he was trying to enter
- He did not even die, so why call it a "killing"?
That is a valid criticism. I got the shootings and killings mixed up towards the end of that post.
To clarify: the protests and riots were over a LEO involved shooting, Rittenhouse shot at 4 different people, killed two of them, wounded one, and missed the guy wearing light colored jeans.
the title of Hero goes to the scared teenaged lawbreaker who got in way over his head, panicked, and killed three people and attempted to kill at least one more.
In self defense.
Grosskreutz was carrying a firearm in order to protect people. Rittenhouse was carrying a firearm in order to protect property.
Where did you get the idea that Grosskreutz was protecting people? And which people? The rioters who were vandalizing property?
Are you claiming to not know anything about Grosskreutz, or are you trying to construct some kind of warped, fun-house mirror argument where the teenager illegally carrying an AR-15 is a fine upstanding citizen while the paramedic carrying medical supplies and a Glock is hella sus?
I mean, I do see the Ad Hominem by Proxy you put in there but is there another reason you're asking?