New FBI Aerial Surveillance Video Shows Never-Before-Seen Actions Before Kyle Rittenhouse Shot 3 People

(CNN) – New FBI infrared aerial surveillance video played in court Wednesday appears to show Kyle Rittenhouse moving into a parking lot where Joseph Rosenbaum was standing, revealing never-before-seen moments before an interaction that led to the fatal shooting that killed Rosenbaum.

The video is the first piece of evidence to show what happened prior to the previously known video of Rosenbaum chasing Rittenhouse moments before he was shot.

The video was shot from above and it is difficult to clearly distinguish the identities of the two running men. During his testimony, Detective Martin Howard of the Kenosha Police Department confirmed the identities of the two men in the final seconds before the shooting.

Prosecutors had previously said that infrared surveillance video could show that, at least at some point during the night of the fatal shootings, it was Rittenhouse who was tracking Rosenbaum.

Rittenhouse’s attorney, Mark Richards, argued that Rosenbaum persecuted Rittenhouse.

Prosecutors showed about 10 videos in court Wednesday that, taken together, showed what happened before, during and after Rittenhouse killed two men and injured another in Kenosha. Rittenhouse, now 18, has pleaded not guilty to seven counts, including first degree manslaughter, first degree reckless manslaughter and attempted first degree manslaughter.

In opening remarks, the prosecution said evidence would show that Rittenhouse pursued and shot Rosenbaum, 36, and then shot three other people who attempted to confront what they believed to be an active shooter. However, Richards said Rittenhouse acted in self-defense, describing Rosenbaum as the assailant and the others as part of a “mob.”

Most of the facts of what happened that night are not up for debate; rather, the heart of the judgment is the analysis of Rittenhouse’s actions and whether they can be considered “reasonable.”

The violence in Kenosha, a city of around 100,000, came amid a tense summer of protests and riots when masses of people denounced how the American police were treating blacks. On August 23, 2020, Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot multiple times in the back by a Kenosha police officer. The ensuing public anger sparked incidents of violence and destruction that night and the following night, leading some people to arm themselves and take the safety of the community into their own hands.

Rittenhouse fired an AR-15-style weapon eight times in total during the riots: four shots at Rosenbaum, who was unarmed; two shots at an unarmed unknown individual who kicked Rittenhouse; a fatal shot at Anthony Huber, who hit Rittenhouse with a skateboard; and a shot at Gaige Grosskreutz, who was holding a gun, according to prosecutors.

Rosenbaum and Huber, 26, were killed and Grosskreutz, now 27, was injured.

A series of videos show that a person shot before they killed Rosenbaum

In the new grainy video, Rittenhouse is moving rapidly along a sidewalk alone. The sidewalk leads to a parking lot, where Rosenbaum is located next to a group of parked cars.

Richards, Rittenhouse’s attorney, alleges that Rosenbaum was in the parking lot setting a Duramax on fire.

“When Kyle (Rittenhouse) … arrives at the Duramax, this individual, Mr. Rosenbaum, begins to come out of hiding,” Richards said, pointing to Rosenbaum in the video.

Howard confirmed the attorney’s statement while on the stand. He also confirmed that Rosenbaum was wearing a mask.

Richards argued that Rosenbaum was “in hiding” when Rittenhouse arrived at the parking lot, which Howard confirmed.

Rittenhouse slows down on the video and there appears to be some kind of exchange, but no audio of the moment.

Howard confirmed this to be true at the time that Rittenhouse could be heard yelling “friendly, friendly, friendly” in another witness video.

“And that doesn’t deter Mr. Rosenbaum, correct?” Richards said.

“Correct,” Howard replied.

Rittenhouse continues to move in the same direction that it was moving previously, and Rosenbaum begins to pursue Rittenhouse.

The new surveillance video is part of a series of videos played during Rittenhouse’s criminal trial Wednesday showing a different person shot into the air seconds before the teen fatally shot Rosenbaum in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last August.

The opening shot was made by Joshua Ziminski, Howard testified. About 2.5 seconds later, Rittenhouse, 17 at the time, shot an unarmed Rosenbaum four times in a parking lot and killed him, Howard said. There were three more shots, videos show, but Howard said investigators still don’t know who shot.

Ziminski, 36, has been charged separately with disorderly conduct using a dangerous weapon, arson and obstruction of an officer, and has pleaded not guilty, court records show. A criminal complaint says he admitted to firing a “warning shot” into the air that night.

What the videos showed

The videos, some of which were graphic, came from different angles and from a variety of witnesses at the scene.

The first batch of videos showed the first shooting in which Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse and threw a bag at him. Then a shot rang out and Rittenhouse shot Rosenbaum four times. Prosecutors showed graphic video of Rosenbaum lying on the ground with a head injury as people attempted to provide medical assistance.

As the video played in the courtroom, Rittenhouse’s head was pointing downward, not looking at the video.

Prosecutors then showed different videos of people pointing at Rittenhouse as he ran from the scene of the shooting and yelling that he had just shot a man. A crowd began chasing Rittenhouse, who fell and then fired four more rounds, videos show.

In a video, taken earlier in the evening by Daily Caller editor Richie McGinniss, Rittenhouse said that he was on the streets serving as a doctor and that the other armed individuals were there to protect him.

“Our job is to protect this business and part of my job is also to help people,” Rittenhouse said. “If someone is injured, I’m running into danger. That’s why I have my rifle, because obviously I need to protect myself. I also have my medicine cabinet.”

Koerri Washington, who live-streamed the Kenosha riots last August, testified early Wednesday as prosecutors showed video he took on the night of the shootings. He testified that Rosenbaum had been acting “erratically” and that Rittenhouse smoked cigarette after cigarette and appeared nervous that night.

Detective Howard testified that he examined Rittenhouse when he turned himself in the day after the shooting.

Howard noted that Rittenhouse had a 1 cm scratch above his left eyebrow, a small cut on the inside of his lower lip, a 4 cm scratch below his left clavicle, some redness on the right side of his navel, a 2 cm scratch on the left forearm, redness on the right forearm, redness on the tip of the right thumb, a scratch on the back near the left shoulder blade and two bumps on the back of the head.

A friend who bought the gun testifies

Dominick Black, a 20-year-old friend who was dating Rittenhouse’s sister, testified Tuesday as the first witness at the trial and said he purchased an AR-15 firearm for Rittenhouse in what prosecutors called a “sale with intermediary”.

Rittenhouse was too young to buy and own a gun, but he funded Black to buy the gun, Black testified.

On August 25, 2020, Black and Rittenhouse each took a gun and ammunition and went to downtown Kenosha to try to protect a car dealership called Car Source, where about six or seven more gunmen had gathered. Black climbed onto the roof of the dealership that night because he felt that being on the street was too dangerous, he testified.

At one point, he heard gunshots in the distance in an area where Rittenhouse was.

“I didn’t believe the shots were actually his until I got a phone call. I answered and he just said, ‘I shot someone, I shot someone,’ and then he immediately hung up,” Black testified.

Rittenhouse returned to the dealership “freaking out,” pale and sweaty, Black said. They left Kenosha and headed to Rittenhouse’s house in Antioch, and Rittenhouse turned himself in to the police the next morning.

Black has been charged with two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a person under the age of 18 causing death, according to court records. He has pleaded not guilty. On Tuesday he testified that he hoped taking the stand would lead to leniency in his case.

CNN’s Carma Hassan and Brad Parks contributed to this report.