Kyle Rittenhouse has broken down in the witness stand as recalled the moment he was 'ambushed' by Joseph Rosenbaum the night he shot him dead.
His mother Wendy watched on from the public gallery of Kenosha County Courthouse, weeping, as Judge Bruce Schroeder called a halt to proceedings in the dramatic morning of testimony.
Rittenhouse had taken the stand in his own defense to tell the court that Rosembaum threatened to kill him twice – once while swinging a heavy chain and the second time when he said he would 'cut out your f***ing heart' and 'kill you N-word.'
The teen recounted the events of the night and explained that he had gone to administer medical aid, armed with his rifle but not looking for trouble, when he found himself alone and cut off from the rest of the group with whom he had been earlier on the evening of August 25, 2020.
Kyle Rittenhouse has broken down on the witness stand as recalled the moment he was 'ambushed' by Joseph Rosenbaum the night he shot him dead
Rittenhouse had taken the stand in his own defense to tell the court that Rosembaum threatened to kill him twice – once while swinging a heavy chain and the second time when he said he would 'cut out your f***ing heart' and 'kill you N-word'
Questioned by his lead attorney Mark Richards he said that he had been attempting to put out vehicles in one of three Car Source properties that he and his fellow so-called vigilantes were in downtown Kenosha to protect during the nights of civil unrest that followed the police shooting of black man Jacob Blake.
Armed with a fire extinguisher, his medical bag and his AR-15, he said, 'I started running towards the Car Source number three to put out fires, pausing occasionally to catch my breath and walk.
'As I'm walking I hear somebody scream, 'Burn in Hell!' and I replied with, 'Friendly! Friendly! Friendly!' Like I just want to put out the fires.
'I noticed a flame in the back seat of a [vehicle] and I stepped towards [it] and as I'm stepping forward I believe his name is Joshua Ziminski steps towards me with a pistol in his hand.
'I drop the fire extinguisher and step back. My plan is to get out of that situation and go back North to Sheridan Road.'
His emotion clearly rising Rittenhouse continued, 'Once I take that step I look back over my shoulder and Mr Rosenbaum was no running from my right side and there were people right there…'
At this point Rittenhouse's testimony became unintelligible as he began sobbing in gulping breaths until the judge was forced to call a halt to proceedings and ushered the jury out.
Back on the stand after a brief break to compose himself Rittenhouse continued to narrate the events of the night – detailing how he was pursued and attacked first by Rosenbaum, then Huber and finally Grosskreutz.
He recalled that he felt trapped between Ziminiski and Rosenbaum and revealed that he had heard Ziminski tell Rosenbaum to, 'Get him and kill him.'
He said that Rosenbaum threw something at him, he turned around but that it didn't stop the other man who was running after him and gaining on him.
As he ran, Rittenhouse said, he heard a gun shot behind him, took a few steps and turned around to see that Rosenbaum was 'about as far from me to where the judge is coming at me with his arms out in front of him.'
He said, 'I remember his hand on the barrel of my gun.'
Rittenhouse fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum (left), 36, with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle after Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse across a parking lot and threw a plastic bag at him shortly before midnight on August 25, 2020. Moments later, as Rittenhouse was running down a street, he shot and killed Anthony Huber (right), 26, a protester from Silver Lake, Wisconsin
His mother Wendy watched on from the public gallery of Kenosha County Courthouse, weeping, as Judge Bruce Schroeder called a halt to proceedings in the dramatic morning of testimony
After he shot Rosenbaum he said, 'I ran around to see if I could help Mr Rosenbaum.
'Mr McGinniss tore off his helmet slammed it on the ground, took off his shirt. I don't remember what he said, I was in shock.'
Rittenhouse said he called his friend Black and told him he had just shot somebody, that he had to shoot him.
He said, 'I heard people say, 'Get his ass.' And thought the safest option was to reach the police line and turn himself but that as he tried to so do he was being chased 'by a mob.'
Armed with a fire extinguisher, his medical bag and his AR-15, he said, 'I started running towards the Car Source number three to put out fires, pausing occasionally to catch my breath and walk
He said, 'People were screaming and saying, 'Cranium him! Kill him!'
'I didn't do anything wrong I defended myself.'
He said that the next thing he remembered was Anthony Huber striking him on the head with a skateboard. He batted it away with his arm and continued on but, light-headed and in shock, he said, he stumbled and fell.
He told the court that as he was running he was hit twice on the head with some sort or rock.
According to Rittenhouse, 'As I'm on the ground thre are people around me. The last person, I don't know his name [went to kick me]. As his face made contact with my face I fired two shots at him.
'I thought he would stomp on my face if I didn't.'
Neither shot hit the man known only as 'jump-kick man' in court.
Immediately after, he said, Huber came at him again – grabbing for his gun.
He said, 'I can feel it pulling away from me and I can feel the strap coming off my body. I fire one shot.'
Struggling to get up he said he saw Grosskreutz coming towards him, initially with
