By Brendan Phimsoutham, Staff Writer
The anger and frustration of anxious Americans spread across the nation while others celebrated as Kyle Rittenhouse (17) was acquitted of all charges on November 19, 2021 in his trial for the shootings of three white men on August 25, 2020.
Kyle Rittenhouse, a teenager from Antioch IL, shot three protestors on the night of August 25, 2020 in Kenosha WI. According to Rittenhouse and other sources such as video evidence, the shooting of Joseph Rosenbaum (36) and Anthony Huber (26) was an act of self defense. In the main segment of all video evidence recorded, Rosenbaum had attempted to grab the barrel of Kyle’s AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and was shot at point blank range. Rittenhouse tripped soon after shooting Rosenbaum and while on the ground shot Huber who had attacked him with a skateboard. A third, Gaige Grosskreutz (26), was shot and injured after raising a gun at Rittenhouse and failing to pull the trigger. Although seeming justified on multiple accounts such as video evidence, witnesses and Rittenhouse himself, much debate and controversy has claimed otherwise.
On November 19, 2021 Rittenhouse was acquitted of all five charges and found not guilty by the jurisdiction of the Kenosha Courthouse. An uproar of both cheering and fury was let out by both sides as a result. Before the final decision was made, demonstrators outside of the courthouse had gathered in hopes that Rittenhouse would receive a verdict and be convicted of all charges. Therefore Rittenhouse’s release was not taken kindly by many of those who sought his punishment.
“The guy shouldn’t have even been there, let alone with a rifle. Of course out of fear someone was going to jump him and try to disarm him,” an anonymous individual stated from an interview.
“He is too young to legally own a gun. Why wasn’t he charged for that?” another anonymous person said in a second interview.
Rittenhouse claimed that business owners in Kenosha were begging residents to protect their businesses from looters and rioters who were mixed into the protestors of the Jacob Blake shooting just days before. He also claimed that he was at the scene to provide medical assistance for any person that had gotten hurt. Others claimed that he was there to kill.
Kyle Rittenhouse should not have been at the protest that night, despite how good his intentions may have appeared. Despite the calls for help in Kenosha, Rittenhouse, a minor who was not at a legal age to own a gun without adult supervision, or frankly own a gun in the first place, should not have taken initiative to take up arms and induct himself as a “peacekeeper.”
However, this does not justify the attacks that were taken out on him that night and comes to show just how violent some of the people in the crowd were, making Kyle look like a hero for his act of self defense against “leftist radicals.” What most people who oppose Kyle believe is that he is a relentless “White Supremacist” without even hearing as to why he claimed to be in Kenosha that night and knowing that he was attacked first. In fact, a lot of the people that want him to be punished don’t even realize that what he is being punished for is the illegal also guilty of multiple crimes such as domestic abuse and, ironically, the use of a dangerous weapon.
As much as I believe in people being able to change and learn from their mistakes, it’s hard for me to try and defend their deaths after researching and finding out that Rosenbaum was screaming racial slurs – including the n-word – at police forces on the very night of the incident. In conclusion, the individuals Rittenhouse had killed that night were not model citizens that justified the said “innocence” of the crowd.
Their actions against Kyle that night were not justified either and were rightfully accounted for in the self defense case of Rittenhouse as an individual. However, the charges of the illegal possession of a lethal weapon still should have been charged to Rittenhouse. He is not a hero but not a coldblooded murderer as everyone claims. I believe that the 17 year old that went out that night watched as adults failed to take control of the situation and felt like he wanted to help without fully understanding the situation. I find it very disappointing that the ignorant actions of what should’ve been the wiser adults lead to minors like Rittenhouse wanting to be involved in solving problems that they cannot solve.
