Our Justice System is Broken.
In a rational world the jury would have found Kyle Rittenhouse guilty on all five charges for the murder of two, attempted murder of another, and two for reckless endangerment. The event started from civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin where Rittenhouse shot and killed Anthony Huber, Joseph Rosenbaum, and shot the bicep of Gaige Grosskreutz who tried to stop him from randomly killing more people but ended up getting his muscle torn off. Instead the jury did an injustice by saying it’s okay for a kid to randomly play judge, jury, and executioner and treated him like royalty in prison.
The New York Times did a good job compiling a short history of the events leading up to the protest. Hours before the first shooting occurred he was seen filming in front of a dealership claiming he wanted to protect it with an AR-15 military style rifle. According to the Sun it’s possible he may have had connections to the far-right group Kenosha Guard militia which would definitely explain why he had that specific gun. Upon meeting the police with military weapon the officers in the car barred him from helping them with the civil unrest. Although we’re not sure what happened between this time and the first shooting it’s likely that given Rittenhouse’s connections to the far-right it’s very likely he may have tried to taunt and agitate the crowd. Which would then explain why multiple videos show them chasing him leading to the first murder.
The Shooting Victims
Joseph Rosenbaum was a 36 year old with a 3 year old daughter from Waco, Texas. He was the first victim. According to multiple witnesses after a verbal altercation he chased Rittenhouse into a used parking lot and threw a plastic bag at Rittenhouse who then shot him right in the head. He died instantly. He murderer then called someone he knew before a small crowd realized he had killed someone and was holding an AR-15 weapon.
Anthony Huber was a 26 year old skateboarder and the second victim killed by Rittenhouse. According to multiple witnesses Anthony noticed the gunman fell on his back and wanted to make sure there were no more killing of unarmed civilians so he kept his skateboard in his right hand and reached for the teen’s gun in his left hand. Rittenhouse could have given his rifle up after realizing most of them were not armed, instead he made the situation worse. He fired the first round in Anthony’s chest which caused him to stagger several steps before collapsing in the street.
In a split second after realizing the gunman was going to kill the person on his right Gaige Grosskreutz pulled out a handgun in self-defense. Just after the second victim was shot, Rittenhouse turned towards Gaige who held up both hands up with a gun in one and a phone in the other. Later when Grosskreutz was asked why he didn’t just shoot Rittenhouse he said “I’m not that kind of person.” At this point Rittenhouse gets up fires several additional rounds possibly with the intention of harming others.
Normalizes Violence Against Others
The biggest takeaway from this trail is that there is no justice for the victims of gun violence. There is no justice for Rosenbaum or Huber. There is only the normalization that it’s now okay for teens with happy trigger fingers to automatically shoot then ask questions later. What if instead of people in their twenties and thirties, the victims are your sons and daughters in middle and high school? Is it rational for you not to seek justice if a 17 year old guns them down? Should the 17 year old face no consequences while you and your loved grieve the loss of your kid? It is perfectly normal to kill others after starting arguments with other people?
To other industrialized countries in the world that is not normal, that’s insane twisted. And until we reform our system, there will be no more justice for victims of gun violence who tried to prevent mass shooters.
