Kyle Rittenhouse was shouting 'Friendly!' as he was chased by man moments before fatal shooting

Stephanie Pagones
Fox News
Thu, 04 Nov 2021 16:23 UTC

© Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool

Kyle Rittenhouse, center, looks up and away from a video monitor as footage of him shooting on the night of Aug. 25, 2020, is shown during the trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, Nov. 3 2021.

Thursday marks third day of testimony in trial of Kyle Rittenhouse

A detective testifying in the ongoing trial for Kyle Rittenhouse said the defendant shouted "Friendly! Friendly! Friendly!" as he was being chased by a man whom he later fatally shot, as Rittenhouse's attorney described the confrontation as a "classic ambush."

Jurors on Wednesday spent much of the day hearing testimony regarding video footage from the night of Aug. 25, when Rittenhouse fatally shot two men and wounded a third during a night of destruction and unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse and at least one friend said they traveled to the Wisconsin city to protect local businesses and provide medical aid after two nights of businesses being looted and set on fire.

Rittenhouse was 17 at the time and brought a medical kit and an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, the latter of which had been supplied to him by a friend and was later used in the shootings.

Part of Wednesday's video included an infrared video made by an FBI surveillance plane from almost 9,000 feet above the spot where Rittenhouse shot 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum. With colored circles superimposed on the video identifying the movements of the two men below, Kenosha Police Detective Martin Howard agreed with defense attorney Mark Richards that Rittenhouse had repeatedly shouted "Friendly!" as he was being chased and that Rosenbaum appeared to be gaining ground on Rittenhouse.

Richards also described how Rosenbaum had come out from behind a car to meet Rittenhouse before the shooting, saying to the detective: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this looks like the classic ambush."

After prosecutors objected, Richards said: "Mr. Rosenbaum is in hiding as my client arrives, correct?"

"It appears so, yes," Howard responded.

The video, played for the 20-person jury of 11 women and nine men, also shows the man running after Rittenhouse and throwing a plastic bag at him.

The first of three assaults after Rittenhouse fell to the ground.

Someone is heard yelling "F--- you!" followed by the sounds of the four shots Rittenhouse fired, killing Rosenbaum, though the shooting itself is not clearly seen on camera.

Moments after shooting the 36-year-old Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse shot and killed Anthony Huber, 26, a protester from Silver Lake, Wisconsin, who was seen on bystander video hitting Rittenhouse with a skateboard.

Rioter Anthony Huber assaults Kyle Rittenhouse with his skateboard

Rittenhouse then wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, a protester from West Allis, Wisconsin, who had a gun in his hand as he stepped toward Rittenhouse.

© Reuters

Gaige Grosskreutz still holds his gun after attacking and being wounded by Kyle Rittenhouse.

Court resumed Thursday after a brief morning delay when a juror was dismissed from the case. Howard then continued his testimony.

Rittenhouse is charged with two counts of homicide, one count of attempted homicide, recklessly endangering safety and illegal possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Comment: Fox News report from Day 2 of the trial:

© Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool

Dominick Black looks at a photograph held by Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger, where he along with Kyle Rittenhouse and a group of others posed on Aug. 25, 2020, during Kyle Rittenhouse's trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis, on Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021.

Dominick Black was the first person to testify in the trial, taking the stand as the prosecution's first witness. Black bought the rifle for Rittenhouse months before the shootings because he was not old enough to own one at the time.

Black faces his own trial for buying the 17-year-old Rittenhouse an AR-15-style rifle he wasn't old enough to legally possess. He testified on Tuesday that he was stunned when Rittenhouse called him seconds after the first shooting.

"I didn't believe the gunshots were actually his until I got a phone call, and I answered it, and he just said, 'I shot somebody, I shot somebody,'" Black recounted.

Black said he was on the rooftop when he heard gunshots but didn't know Rittenhouse was involved until Rittenhouse called and said, "I shot somebody, I shot somebody."

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."

RT reports on more testimony:

Richie McGinniss, who witnessed the Kyle Rittenshouse shooting first-hand, has told the jury that one of the men killed was attempting to get hold of Rittenhouse's rifle at the very moment the teen pulled the trigger.

McGinniss, who works for online publication the Daily Caller, was among the group of people who drove Joseph Rosenbaum to hospital when he was shot by Rittenhouse during a night of violent protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 25, 2020.

Speaking from the witness stand on Thursday, McGinniss gave his account of that night's events, telling the jury that he was standing several feet away from the scene, and that his eyes were "fixing at the barrel of the weapon" in Rittenhouse's hands at all times as the incident unravelled.

McGinniss claimed he feared that "something with the weapon was about to happen" when he saw Rosenbaum "running and eventually lunging towards the front portion of the rifle."

Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger repeatedly grilled McGinniss as to the exact position of Rosenbaum at the moment of the shooting, asking him if Rittenhouse fired as the latter was "falling." McGinniss disagreed with this interpretation, saying: "No, not falling, lunging," doubling down on his testimony.

It was as if, you know, if you were to lunge at somebody, if anybody were to lunge, they would probably stop themselves, you know, from falling face down on the ground, but the shots were fired in the exact instant that his momentum was going forward and that continued until Mr. Rosenbaum landed on the ground

McGinniss' testimony supports the argument made by Rittenhouse's lawyers that the teen, then 17, was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed Rosenbaum. The prosecution has argued that Rosenbaum was unarmed, and therefore was not capable of harming Rittenhouse.

Rittenhouse has been charged with homicide and reckless endangerment for shooting and killing 36-year-old Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber, as well as injuring 23-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz. His much-anticipated trial kicked off earlier this week, and has already been mired in controversy. Liberal commentators have been up in arms over the composition of the jury, which reportedly features only one non-white member. On Thursday, one of the jurors was dismissed over a joke he told a sheriff's deputy about Jacob Blake's police shooting. Blake, a black man, was left paralyzed from the torso down after he was shot by police seven times on August 23, 2020. His shooting sparked the protests in Kenosha, but was later ruled justified.

That Rittenhouse is even being subjected to a trial is a travesty.

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