Lone survivor in Kyle Rittenhouse shooting acknowledges unholstering his own gun, worrying about teen’s safety

KENOSHA, Wis. — The only man to survive being shot by Kyle Rittenhouse acknowledged Monday he had unholstered his gun and pointed it in the teen’s direction when Rittenhouse fired a single bullet into the man’s bicep.

Gaige Grosskreutz, a trained paramedic, told jurors he hadn’t planned to shoot Rittenhouse even though he believed the teen to be an active shooter. Having seen Rittenhouse already kill one man, he assumed he would be next.

“I was never trying to kill the defendant,” Grosskreutz said. “That was never something I was trying to do. In that moment, I was trying to preserve my own life. But doing so, also, taking the life of another is not something I am capable or comfortable of doing. It goes against almost a lifelong ethical code in regards to medicine.”

In putting a human face on what has so far been a video-heavy case that centers around very technical legal questions, Grosskreutz seemed to bolster Rittenhouse’s self-defense claim as he testified that he believed some people chasing Rittenhouse down the street intended to hurt the teen. He also confirmed he had a gun in his right hand as he took a step toward Rittenhouse.

Grosskreutz, 28, told the jury he did not chase Rittenhouse that night as the defense argues. He acknowledged, however, that he tried to grab the teen’s AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle just before Rittenhouse shot him in the arm.

Wearing a hat with “paramedic” printed on it during protests, Grosskreutz testified, he and a friend had organized a medical corps to help people needing assistance at demonstrations in Milwaukee during the summer of 2020 after George Floyd’s death. He also traveled to Kenosha on Aug. 25 to provide medic services to people protesting the shooting days earlier of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white police officer.

Like Rittenhouse, Grosskreutz carried a gun and provided first aid to people injured during the demonstrations. But unlike Rittenhouse — a 17-year-old lifeguard who misled people about his age and emergency medical technician certification — Grosskreutz obtained his firearm through proper channels and was certified as an EMT.

Rittenhouse volunteered as an armed security guard for a Kenosha used car lot after businesses had been burned and vandalized during demonstrations the previous day. He left his post and his partner shortly before midnight and encountered Joseph Rosenbaum, who one witness described as a “babbling idiot” saying provocative things and shouting racial slurs at various times throughout the evening.

Grosskreutz offered the prosecution its best chance at debunking the defense team’s pretrial claims that all three men shot that night were rioters or arsonists. There has been no evidence during the trial suggesting he participated in any violence or vandalism, though the defense has argued he unnecessarily inserted himself into a dangerous situation.

That night in Kenosha, Grosskreutz testified, he brought medical supplies, including QuikClot to stem bleeding, and patches for chest wounds. He said he kept his Glock semi-automatic pistol holstered in the small of his back, something that would have been illegal because his concealed carry permit was expired at the time.

In keeping with a decision he made earlier that summer, Grosskreutz said, he did not participate in the protests by joining in chants or holding signs.

“I believe in the Second Amendment,” he told jurors. “I’m for people’s right to carry and bear arms. That night was no different than any other day. It’s keys, phone, wallet, gun.”

Grosskreutz said he treated about 10 people during the Kenosha protest, including someone who had been shot in the arm by police with a rubber bullet. He also livestreamed cellphone video on social media when not busy helping people.

He first encountered Rittenhouse after police pushed demonstrators who were near the courthouse south past a used car lot where Rittenhouse and other armed men in his group were protecting the business. Grosskreutz said he saw Rittenhouse providing medical assistance, noting that Rittenhouse didn’t appear to be a trained medic, in large part because he was wearing gloves in an unsanitary manner.

He and Rittenhouse crossed paths again immediately after the first shooting, involving Rosenbaum. In a brief encounter captured on video, Grosskreutz asked Rittenhouse if he had shot someone.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Grosskreutz is heard saying to Rittenhouse on the video. “You shot somebody?”

“I’m going to get the police,” Rittenhouse responds. “I didn’t do anything.”

Grosskreutz next turned around in the street and began heading in the opposite direction from the teen. But he turned around again, trailing Rittenhouse. The defense argued Grosskreutz was chasing Rittenhouse at this point, but Grosskreutz repeatedly said he was pursuing to help potentially injured people and not chasing Rittenhouse. He also testified that he was worried for Rittenhouse’s safety.

“I thought that the defendant was an active shooter,” he said. “Anytime you add a firearm into the equation the stakes are so much higher and a person could be in danger and killed.”

As he ran down the street, Rittenhouse tripped and fell to the pavement. While the teen was on the ground, 26-year-old Anthony Huber hit him with his skateboard and Rittenhouse fired a fatal bullet into his chest.

At one point in his testimony, Grosskreutz accused Rittenhouse of “murdering” Huber, and the judge instructed the jury to disregard the comment. At least one juror nodded.

On the video, Grosskreutz then approached Rittenhouse with a cellphone in one hand and his pistol in the other. Video shows the teen turn toward him with his rifle and Grosskreutz raise his hand.

“I thought there was a high likelihood that I would be shot myself,” he said.

Grosskreutz said he had unholstered his weapon as he followed Rittenhouse and would have fired “if I had to.” He also testified he had not positioned himself in a way that suggested he intended to shoot.

In the video, Rittenhouse then turned his rifle over as if to examine it, a move Grosskreutz said he took to mean the teen would load the next bullet into the chamber. “By re-racking the weapon, I inferred that the defendant wasn’t accepting my surrender,” he said.

Grosskreutz said he did not want to fire upon Rittenhouse, but he conceded he may have unintentionally pointed the gun downward in the teen’s direction.

“It’s not the kind of person I am,” Grosskreutz said. “It’s not why I was out there. It’s not why I was out there for 75 days prior to that. Why I, up until that time, spent my time, money, my education providing care for people. It’s not who I am. And definitely not somebody that I would want to become.”

On the video, Grosskreutz then took a step forward, his left arm stretched out and the hand holding the gun pulled back. Rittenhouse fired a bullet into his arm and “vaporized” his right bicep, the witness testified.

A bloodied Grosskreutz, his upper arm shredded, screamed in pain and called for a medic. He has undergone several surgeries since the shooting and has no sensation below the elbow.

Rittenhouse took frequent notes during the testimony, but showed no reaction to images of Grosskreutz’s bloody arm. Several jurors, however, grimaced and looked away.

In statements to Antioch police after he turned himself in, Rittenhouse said he “killed two white guys” after he was hit with a skateboard and a bat. He did not mention seeing a gun or injuring a third person.

Grosskreutz filed a $10 million lawsuit alleging Kenosha law enforcement essentially deputized Rittenhouse and shared blame for his actions that night. The prosecution previously asked Kenosha Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder to bar any mention of the lawsuit during Grosskreutz’s testimony, but Schroeder refused and said it spoke to Grosskreutz’s potential bias as a witness.

Upon cross-examination, Grosskreutz denied being aligned with the far left, but conceded he did not tell law enforcement he had a gun in his hand when he was shot and did not fully cooperate with the police investigation.