Originally published 2020-08-27.
On the night of 25 August 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse, then a 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois, shot three men during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, died; Gaige Grosskreutz, then 26, was wounded in the arm. Rittenhouse was charged with homicide and other offences within days. More than a year later, on 19 November 2021, a jury found him not guilty on every count that went to trial.
This page first appeared in the days after his arrest, when the charges were new and the videos were still circulating. Below is the full arc: why Kenosha was on edge, what happened in those few minutes on Sheridan Road, how the police response was criticised, what he was charged with, and why the jury accepted his claim of self-defence.
Why Kenosha was in turmoil that week
Two days earlier, on 23 August, Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey had shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, seven times as Blake leaned into his car. Blake survived but was left paralysed from the waist down. Video of the shooting spread quickly, and Kenosha became one more city in a summer of protests that had begun with the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis that May. You can read our earlier report on the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Peaceful daytime demonstrations were followed by nights of arson, property damage and clashes with police. The county declared a state of emergency, an 8 p.m. curfew was imposed, and Wisconsin National Guard troops were sent in. By the third night, groups of armed civilians, many in tactical gear, had appeared on the streets saying they had come to guard businesses from looters. Rittenhouse, who lived about 20 miles away across the state line, was among them.
In January 2021 the Kenosha County district attorney announced that Sheskey would not be charged over the Blake shooting.
What happened on Sheridan Road
Rittenhouse was carrying a Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifle and a first-aid kit near a car dealership's lots on Sheridan Road. Shortly before midnight, Rosenbaum, who was unarmed, chased him into a parking lot and, according to trial evidence, reached for the barrel of the rifle. Seconds earlier, another man in the area had fired a handgun, reportedly into the air. Rittenhouse turned and fired four times, killing Rosenbaum.
He then ran north along the street as a crowd followed, some shouting that he had just shot someone. He stumbled and fell. Huber struck him with a skateboard and tried to pull the rifle away; Rittenhouse shot him once, and he died. Grosskreutz, who was carrying a pistol, approached next and was shot in the arm. Rittenhouse then walked toward police vehicles with his hands raised, but in the confusion officers drove past him. He surrendered to police in Antioch the following morning.
Much of this was filmed by bystanders and livestreamers from several angles, which is why the case was argued so intensely online long before any court heard it.
The police response that drew criticism
(The Facebook video originally embedded here is no longer available.)
Earlier that evening, video showed officers in a police vehicle handing bottles of water to the armed civilians and thanking them for being there. Rittenhouse was visible in the group. For many critics, the clip summed up an unequal approach: armed young men were welcomed while protesters were being pushed back with tear gas.
At a press conference the next day, Kenosha police chief Daniel Miskinis suggested the deaths might not have happened if people had obeyed the curfew. Critics noted that the curfew applied equally to the armed group, and the American Civil Liberties Union called for him and county sheriff David Beth to resign. Neither did.
Rittenhouse's social media had shown "Back the Blue" imagery, a slogan used in support of police, and he had reportedly taken part in a police youth cadet programme. That background shaped how both his supporters and his critics saw him.
The charges, and the one that was dropped
Prosecutors charged Rittenhouse with first-degree reckless homicide for Rosenbaum's death, first-degree intentional homicide for Huber's, attempted first-degree intentional homicide for shooting Grosskreutz, two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment for shots that endangered others, plus a curfew violation and possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18.
The rifle had been bought in Wisconsin by a friend, Dominick Black, with Rittenhouse's money, because Rittenhouse was too young to buy it himself. During the trial Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed the weapons charge after prosecutors conceded that the rifle's barrel length placed it outside the part of the statute covering minors. The curfew charge was also dropped for lack of evidence. Black was later charged too; in January 2022 he pleaded no contest to a non-criminal citation for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and the felony counts were dropped.
Why the jury acquitted him
The trial ran from 1 to 19 November 2021 in Kenosha County Circuit Court. The defence argued that each shot was fired in self-defence: Rosenbaum had chased him and grabbed for the rifle, Huber had hit him with a skateboard, and Grosskreutz had a pistol in his hand. Rittenhouse testified and broke down on the stand.
Prosecutors argued that he had provoked the confrontation by bringing a rifle to a volatile scene, and that the people who chased him believed they were stopping an active shooter. Grosskreutz testified that he thought Rittenhouse was a shooter and acknowledged he had been holding his pistol when he was shot.
Under Wisconsin law, once a defendant raises self-defence, the prosecution must disprove it beyond reasonable doubt. After deliberating over four days, the jury found him not guilty on all five remaining counts. Reaction split sharply along political lines. President Joe Biden said the verdict would leave many Americans angry and concerned, while adding that the jury system had to be respected.
What came after the verdict
An acquittal ends the criminal case but not every legal question. Huber's parents and Grosskreutz both filed civil lawsuits, naming the city, police and, later, Rittenhouse himself; a federal judge allowed the Huber family's case to proceed in 2023. The rifle, by agreement between the prosecution and the defence, was destroyed in 2022.
The case also became a reference point in arguments about open-carry laws and armed civilians at protests. Supporters treated it as a clear example of lawful self-defence; critics argued that the law allowed a teenager to walk into a riot with a rifle and leave with no criminal liability for two deaths. Both readings start from the same facts, which is why it helps to separate them from the slogans.
The day after the shootings, the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for a playoff game in protest at the Blake shooting, and other NBA teams followed, pausing the playoffs for several days.
Common misconceptions about the case
- "He crossed state lines with the gun." He did not. The rifle was bought by a friend and kept in Wisconsin; Rittenhouse collected it there.
- "The people he shot were Black." All three men were white.
- "He was convicted of the gun charge." That charge was dismissed by the judge before the jury deliberated.
- "The verdict means he was a hero" or "the verdict means the jury approved of vigilantes." A not-guilty verdict means only that the prosecution did not disprove self-defence beyond reasonable doubt on each count.
Sources: Wikipedia: Kenosha unrest shooting; Wikipedia: Shooting of Jacob Blake; Reuters: Rittenhouse verdict, 19 November 2021; Al Jazeera: Judge dismisses firearm possession charge, 15 November 2021. Videos: YouTube news uploads embedded above.
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