Kyle Rittenhouse Trial: Injured Victim Gaige Grosskreutz Set To Testify

A man who was shot and injured by Kyle Rittenhouse during Black Lives Matter protests in August 2020 is expected to testify in the 18-year-old's murder trial on Monday.

Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, who was shot in the arm by Rittenhouse amid the protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is said to be giving evidence during the trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse as prosecutors are set to wind up their case in the highly publicized trial this week, reported The Associated Press.

Grosskreutz was shot on August 25, 2020, along with Anthony Huber, as a group of protesters chased the then 17-year-old Rittenhouse down the street after he shot and killed his first victim, Joseph Rosenbaum.

Video from the scene, which has already been played in court, showed that Rittenhouse fired at Huber while he was attempting to hit him with a skateboard. The footage then showed Rittenhouse firing again at Grosskreutz, who was carrying a handgun at the time, hitting him in the arm. Huber later died from his injuries.

The prosecution will be hoping Grosskreutz's testimony will cast a shadow on the defense's claims that Rittenhouse fired in self-defense while fearing for his life in Kenosha.

Mark Richards, an attorney for Rittenhouse, said the defense intends to show evidence that Grosskreutz "went after" Rittenhouse and that testimony from an expert they called to analyze the video would show that Grosskreutz posed a threat.

"The slowed down video from our self defense expert will leave no doubt what his intent was," Richards told Reuters.

Just like Rittenhouse, Grosskreutz argued that he did not travel to Kenosha in order to engage in violence or destruction, but to provide medical assistance for those who may need it after getting caught up in the disorder.

However, unlike Rittenhouse, Grosskreutz is a trained paramedic and was also legally allowed to carry his weapon in public.

Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger previously asked the jury why Rittenhouse did not offer to help Grosskreutz after shooting him if he was in Kenosha that night to provide medical help.

"One of the things that you will see in here, in this case, is that the defendant, throughout this entire evening, held himself out as an EMT, as a medic carrying a medical bag with him strapped to his body," Binger said during his opening statement on November 2.

"And yet in this time of Mr. Rosenbaum [being] there on the ground, injured, potentially dying, the defendant offers no aid, but instead runs."

The prosecution will also argue against the defense's claims that Grosskruetz, Huber or Rosenbaum were the "looters, rioters, and arsonists" that they claim they were.

The remarks have been met with rebuke from victims' rights organizations in Wisconsin, given Grosskreutz is the only one involved in the trial alive to fight them.

"It is hard to imagine a situation in which these rights are more at issue than in discussions over whether the defense may refer to victims as looters, rioters, and arsonists, particularly when two of the victims are deceased and have no ability to defend against those legal characterizations," attorney Amanda Rabe Mayer of Wisconsin Judicare Inc. said in a statement in response to Richards, via the Chicago Tribune.

Speaking to Reuters, Kimberley Motley, Grosskreutz's attorney, said: "It's important for the public to know Gaige's story and what really happened that night.

"Rittenhouse did not have a legal right to shoot him. Gaige was not threatening him."

Rittenhouse is facing a number of charges, including first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide. He also faces a misdemeanor count of being a minor in possession of a firearm.