Last Updated on August 27, 2020
Footage tweeted by the New York Times’s Visual Investigations team shows that Kyle Rittenhouse did not fire the first shot in Kenosha.
Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Illinois, has been charged with first degree murder for killing two men and injuring one during the current riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin. However, his supporters claim that Rittenhouse was simply acting in self-defence, a claim that is seemingly backed up by the video evidence taken from the scene.
“At [23:49], Rittenhouse is seen in this YouTube livestream,” Christiaan Triebert from the New York Times’s Visual Investigations Team tweeted on Thursday. “He’s being chased into a parking lot. While he is being pursued, an unknown gunman fires the first shot into the air.”
The footage circles Rittenhouse, fleeing from an angry mob before the incident has occurred. “That’s antifa man,” the man shooting the video can be heard saying. The footage then continues, circling a man behind Rittenhouse with a hand-gun, who shoots up into the air – evidence backed up by the man recording.
At 23:19, Rittenhouse is seen in this YouTube livestream. He's being chased into a parking lot. While he is being pursued, an unknown gunman fires the first shot into the air. pic.twitter.com/BSD8rd6ARN
— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) August 27, 2020
It is at this point that Rittenhouse turns to the gunfire and responds with shots from his rifle. Further footage tweeted by Triebert from a separate angle clearly shows not only the muzzle flash from the handgun, but the smoke rising from the discharged weapon as well.
The muzzle flash of the first shot by the unknown gunman and the smoke rising from the handgun can be seen in this video capturing the first shooting from a different angle. pic.twitter.com/ddRjsgiMN7
— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) August 27, 2020
The released footage correlates with earlier footage covered by National File, where the rioters can be seen throwing a heavy object at Rittenhouse before they chase him around a car.
National File has also reported that the man fatally shot in the head by Rittenhouse was a convicted pedophile:
Joseph Rosenbaum, also known as “Jojo,” 36, was allegedly shot in the head by Kyle Rittenhouse in a shooting that was caught on camera from multiple after an argument emerged when the teenager traveled about 10 miles to Kenosha to protect local businesses from looting and to provide medical aid to those who needed it.
Internet sleuths later revealed that Rosenbaum was a convicted pedophile after a conviction for sexual conduct with a minor from December 2002 came to light as the pasts of those involved were dredged up following the ensuing chaos to find control over the narrative.
