NOTE: NBC Chicago will provide a live feed from the courtroom as available throughout the trial. Watch live here.
The second week of Kyle Rittenhouse's murder trial began Monday as the man who was shot by the teenager took the stand, saying he confronted Rittenhouse with a gun of his own to try to stop the bloodshed.
When asked what was going through his mind as he neared Rittenhouse, 27-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz testified, “That I was going to die.”
Rittenhouse, now 18, wounded Grosskreutz in the arm and killed two other men during a turbulent protest against racial injustice in Kenosha during the summer of 2020.
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Grosskreutz, who was trained as a paramedic, testified that he volunteered as a medic at protests in Milwaukee in the days after George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020.
Grosskreutz said he was wearing a hat that night that said “paramedic” and was carrying medical supplies, in addition to a loaded pistol. Grosskreutz said his permit to carry a concealed weapon had expired and he did not have a valid permit that night.
He said he provided medical assistance to about 10 other people that night.
Rittenhouse kept his eyes on Grosskreutz as he testified. When asked questions by prosecutors, Grosskreutz turned and looked straight at the jurors, who sat just feet away.
LIVE COVERAGE: A live feed of Kyle Rittenhouse's murder trial is available when court is in session.
Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with wounding Grosskreutz and killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber. The one-time police youth cadet from Antioch, Illinois, was 17 when he went to Kenosha with an AR-style rifle and a medical kit in what he said was an effort to safeguard property from the demonstrations that broke out over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer.
Rittenhouse is white, as are the three men he shot, but the case has raised polarizing questions about racial justice, policing, vigilantism and the right to bear arms.
In the first week of Rittenhouse's trial, prosecutors played numerous videos that showed the events of that night from different angles. Jurors heard testimony from people who were with Rittenhouse, as well as from police officers and loved ones of the men who died.
Prosecutors have portrayed Rittenhouse as the instigator of the bloodshed as well as an inexperienced teen who misrepresented his age and medical training to others that night. Rittenhouse's lawyer has argued that he acted in self-defense, suggesting among other things that Rittenhouse feared his weapon would be taken and used against him.
Rittenhouse could get life in prison if convicted.
Find complete coverage of the murder trial here.
