By Nathan Layne

KENOSHA, Wis. (Reuters) – A witness within the trial of U.S. teenager Kyle Rittenhouse stated on Friday that one of many two protesters killed that night time was performing aggressively and repeatedly challenged a gaggle of armed males to shoot him, however that he didn’t contemplate the person a menace.

Prosecutors sought to make use of the testimony of Jason Lackowski, a former Marine who was among the many armed males with Rittenhouse on the night time of the shootings, that the primary particular person the teenager shot was not perceived as a menace to a different armed man.

Rittenhouse, 18, has been charged within the killing of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and for wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, now 27, throughout a chaotic night time on Aug. 25, 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin throughout protests on the police taking pictures of a Black man.

Rittenhouse has pleaded not responsible and says he acted in self protection.

In an incident separate from the shootings, Lackowski stated that Rosenbaum had challenged him and different armed males near him to shoot him and likewise “false-stepped” of their course – a movement of stepping towards somebody after which rapidly stepping again.

“After he did that a number of instances I turned my again and ignored him,” Lackowski stated, answering “no” to a query from Kenosha County Assistant District Lawyer Thomas Binger about whether or not he thought-about Rosenbaum a menace and confirming he was unarmed.

Lackowski stated he was armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, just like the weapon Rittenhouse had that night time. He stated he, together with others, had come to Kenosha to guard a used automobile lot after rioting and arson within the metropolis in earlier nights.

Lackowski’s testimony got here at some point after two witness offered testimony that seemed to be supportive of Rittenhouse’s self-defense claims. On Thursday, one witness stated Rosenbaum cursed and lunged for the defendant’s rifle earlier than he fired and one other witness stated Rosenbaum had threatened to kill each Rittenhouse and him earlier within the night time.

Below cross-examination, Lackowski acknowledged that in contrast to Rittenhouse he was not alone when he got here into contact with Rosenbaum and that his calculation of the potential menace might have modified if Rosenbaum had threatened his life.

Lackowski additionally stated Rosenbaum was utilizing “the N-word” whereas asking folks to shoot him, utterances that prompted different protesters to react negatively in direction of him. The protests had been sparked by the police taking pictures of Jacob Blake, a Black man, on Aug. 23, 2020. Blake was left paralyzed from the waist down.

Corey Chirafisi, an lawyer for Rittenhouse, identified the context by which Rosenbaum allegedly used a racial slur.

“He is saying this at a protest for an African-American man who was shot by police.”

(reporting by Nathan Layne in Kenosha, Wisconsin; Modifying by Alistair Bell)