Joseph Rosenbaum: The Shooting, Autopsy, and Civil Lawsuit

Joseph Rosenbaum was a 36-year-old man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse on the night of August 25, 2020, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during the unrest that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rosenbaum was unarmed. He was the first of three men Rittenhouse shot that night, and his death became the central count in a homicide trial that ended in acquittal on all charges in November 2021.

Who Joseph Rosenbaum Was

Rosenbaum was born in Waco, Texas, and grew up in Texas and Arizona.¹ He had a long criminal record in Arizona. A grand jury there charged him with 11 counts of child molestation involving five boys between the ages of 9 and 11, and he spent more than 14 years in prison on multiple convictions in Pima County, including a 10-year sentence for one rape charge and consecutive 30-month sentences for two others.²

Around August 2019, Rosenbaum moved to the Kenosha area to be closer to his young daughter.¹ He met Kariann Swart, who became his fiancée. The two experienced periods of homelessness and were living together in a motel by August 2020.³ He also had pending Wisconsin charges for domestic abuse and bail jumping at the time of his death.²

On the afternoon of August 25, Rosenbaum was discharged from a psychiatric hospital outside Milwaukee.⁴ Swart testified at trial that he had been hospitalized after a suicide attempt and was on medication for bipolar disorder and depression.³

The Night of the Shooting

After returning to the motel, Rosenbaum reportedly tried to retrieve belongings from a police station and medication from a Walgreens; both were closed.⁵ Swart testified that she told him not to go downtown toward the protests. He left the motel alone at 9:38 p.m., and she said she did not know he had gone to the protest area.¹

Witnesses described Rosenbaum’s behavior that evening as volatile. Ryan Balch, a former Army infantryman walking with Rittenhouse’s armed group, testified that Rosenbaum was “hyperaggressive,” repeatedly shouting at people and needing to be physically restrained by others.⁶ Balch said that when someone in the armed group stopped Rosenbaum from lighting something on fire, Rosenbaum yelled from inches away: “If I catch any of you guys alone tonight, I’m going to fucking kill you.” Balch identified himself, Rittenhouse, and a third man as the targets of the threat.⁷ On cross-examination, Balch acknowledged that he did not see Rosenbaum strike, punch, or kick anyone that evening.

Just before midnight, in a used-car dealership parking lot, the confrontation with Rittenhouse occurred. Rittenhouse testified that Rosenbaum “ambushed” him from behind a parked vehicle and chased him. Rosenbaum was carrying only a plastic bag with personal items, which he threw at Rittenhouse during the pursuit; Rittenhouse said he initially thought the bag was a chain.³⁸

At nearly the same moment, a 35-year-old bystander named Joshua Ziminski fired what he later described as a “warning shot” into the air from a handgun.⁹ Rittenhouse testified that he heard the shot behind him, turned, and saw Rosenbaum coming at him with arms outstretched, and felt Rosenbaum’s hand on the barrel of his rifle.⁸ Richie McGinniss, a journalist watching from close range, testified that Rosenbaum lunged for the front of the rifle: “It was very clear to me that he was reaching specifically for the weapon, because that’s where his hands went.”⁷ Rittenhouse fired four shots.

What the Autopsy Showed

Dr. P. Douglas Kelley, a forensic pathologist with the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s office, performed the autopsy. Rosenbaum was shot in the groin first, then in the hand and thigh while facing Rittenhouse, and finally in the head and back at a downward angle.¹⁰ All four shots were fired from within four feet, based on gunpowder stippling on the skin.

The fatal wound was the shot to the back, which struck the lungs and liver. Dr. Kelley testified that at the moment of that wound, Rosenbaum was “falling forward, not walking away.”¹¹ He also agreed that the first shot was consistent with Rosenbaum’s hand being over the barrel. Prosecutors argued the autopsy showed Rosenbaum falling; the defense argued it showed him lunging. Dr. Kelley testified both interpretations were possible on the autopsy findings alone.¹⁰

Why Rittenhouse Was Acquitted

Rittenhouse was charged with five felonies, including first-degree reckless homicide for Rosenbaum’s death. A sixth count for illegal possession of a weapon by a minor was dismissed by Judge Bruce Schroeder before the jury deliberated.¹²

The trial hinged on Wisconsin’s self-defense statute, which allows deadly force when a person reasonably believes they face imminent death or great bodily harm.¹³ Jurors had to decide whether Rittenhouse sincerely believed he was in danger and whether a reasonable person in his position would have believed the same. Wisconsin imposes no duty to retreat. Once a defendant raises self-defense, the prosecution must disprove it beyond a reasonable doubt, and because the weapons charge had been dismissed, jurors were never told that Rittenhouse’s carrying of the rifle was itself an unlawful provocation.¹⁴ Stanford Law Professor Robert Weisberg said the framework let the jury be “pretty generous” in deciding who was the initial aggressor.¹⁵

Judge Schroeder also excluded Rosenbaum’s Arizona criminal history from evidence, reasoning that it would invite jurors to speculate about Rosenbaum’s motives rather than evaluate the encounter itself.¹⁶ The jury never heard about his record.

On November 19, 2021, after nearly 27 hours of deliberation across four days, a jury of seven women and five men found Rittenhouse not guilty on all five remaining counts.¹⁷

Civil Lawsuit Filed by His Estate

Rosenbaum’s estate filed a 15-count federal lawsuit against Rittenhouse, Kenosha and Waukesha Counties, the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department, the Kenosha Police Department, and the heads of those departments. The claims include wrongful death, conspiracy to deprive constitutional rights, deprivation of due process, failure to intervene, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence.¹⁸ Separate civil suits were filed by the families of Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz, the two other men Rittenhouse shot that night. In the Huber case, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman denied motions to dismiss in February 2023 and noted that Rittenhouse had been “deliberately cagey about his whereabouts” and appeared to be evading service.¹⁹ The civil cases had not been resolved as of the most recent available reporting.

Kariann Swart learned of Rosenbaum’s death around 4:00 a.m. on August 26, when the medical examiner called. She testified that she went to the scene that morning and placed her hand in the pool of his blood still on the pavement.¹

1
Courthouse News Service. Rittenhouse Victim’s Fiancée Testifies on Day 4 of Protester Shooter’s Homicide Trial
2
Arizona Daily Independent. Appropriate Sentence Might Have Kept Arizona Child Molester From Being Killed in Rittenhouse’s Self-Defense
3
NPR. What We Know About the 3 Men Kyle Rittenhouse Shot
4
Washington Post. Kenosha Shooting Kyle Rittenhouse Interview
5
New York Post. The Social Justice Movement Distorted What Kyle Rittenhouse Really Did
6
Business Insider. Witness Says Joseph Rosenbaum Threatened to Kill Him and Rittenhouse
7
The Hill. Witness Testifies Shooting Victim Lunged for Rittenhouse’s Gun
8
CNN. Kyle Rittenhouse Trial Wednesday
9
Chicago Tribune. Authorities: Man Says He Fired Warning Shot on Night Kyle Rittenhouse Allegedly Shot 3 in Kenosha
10
WUWM. Forensic Pathologist Testifies Kyle Rittenhouse Shot Joseph Rosenbaum at Close Range
11
Wisconsin Public Radio. Medical Examiner Gives Graphic Testimony on Injuries That Killed Rittenhouse Shooting Victims
12
New York Times. Kyle Rittenhouse Trial
13
Courthouse News Service. Legal Experts See Strong Self-Defense Claim for Rittenhouse
14
Temple University Amicus Curiae Editorial Review. Can We Make Sense of the Kyle Rittenhouse Acquittal
15
Stanford Law School. Stanford Criminal Law Experts on the Kyle Rittenhouse Acquittal
16
Courthouse News Service. Judge Limits Pool of Evidence in Rittenhouse Murder Case
17
NPR. Kyle Rittenhouse Acquitted on All Charges
18
Court TV. Kyle Rittenhouse, County Officials Sued by Joseph Rosenbaum’s Estate
19
PBS NewsHour. Attorneys for Man Shot During Protest in Kenosha Say Kyle Rittenhouse Is Evading Them