Kyle Rittenhouse is already being sued by the estate of one of the two men he fatally shot during a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and by a third man he shot and wounded. Upon the third anniversary of the shooting, the lone holdout party is now taking legal action, too. Lawyers for the estate of Joseph Rosenbaum say Rittenhouse, the City of Kenosha, the Kenosha Police Department, the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department, several individual officers, and other defendants "intentionally and unjustifiably caused" the 36-year-old's death, according to the document filed Friday in Wisconsin, which seeks unspecified damages, per the Guardian. Rittenhouse responded on X, saying, "I'm being sued again for defending my life."
Rittenhouse was acquitted of homicide and attempted homicide in the fatal shootings of Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber and the non-fatal shooting of Gaige Grosskreutz, 27. He was 17 on Aug. 25, 2020, when he traveled from his home in Illinois to join a self-described militia protecting businesses in Kenosha during Black Livers Matter protests over the police shooting of an unarmed Black man named Jacob Blake. He said he opened fire in self-defense. However, the lawsuit claims Rittenhouse "fired his assault rifle indiscriminately multiple times at citizens on the street. He shot and killed two men, seriously injured a third, and narrowly missed a fourth."
Law enforcement defendants "did nothing to stop" his actions, the suit continues, per the Guardian. "They did not disarm him. They did not limit his movement in any way. They did not question him. They did not stop him from shooting individuals after he started. They did not arrest him, detain him, or question him even after he had killed two people." Indeed, the suit notes officers were seen giving water to armed men who were out in violation of a curfew. They "deputized these armed individuals, conspired with them, and ratified their actions by letting them patrol the streets, armed with deadly weapons, to mete out justice as they saw fit."
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Huber's father filed a similar federal lawsuit against Rittenhouse and law enforcement in August 2021, claiming wrongful death and civil rights violations. Grosskreutz, who was shot in the arm, sued law enforcement that October and added Rittenhouse as a defendant this past February, per Law & Crime. In response to the latest suit, Rittenhouse, who now lives in Texas, spoke to the Texas Scorecard, a nonprofit that advocates for self-governance in the Lone Star State, saying he lives in fear because of the lawsuits' claims. "It is extremely difficult to go outside without fear of being harassed or assaulted because of the lies spread," he said. "No one should have to continue to defend the fact that they acted in self-defense." (More Kyle Rittenhouse stories.)
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