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On August 17, 2021, parents of shooting victim Anthony Huber filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois teen who pulled the trigger in the incident. On Wednesday, February 1, Judge Lynn Adelman dismissed a motion filed by Rittenhouse's defense team to dismiss the lawsuit.
For those unversed, Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two men and injured one other during a protest in Kenosha, Washington, on August 25, 2020. The protest, which was spurred by the police shooting of black man Jacob Blake, led to several clashes between 'Black Lives Matter' activists and right-wing supporters.
Kyle Rittenhouse, a police supporter, was among several armed right-wing vigilantes who claimed they were at the scene of the protests to protect businesses from looting and vandalism. As protesters and police supporters clashed, Rittenhouse opened fire on three men in what he described as self-defense.
The shooting led to the deaths of 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber. The individual injured in the incident was identified as 26-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz.
Nearly a year after the shooting, Anthony Huber's parents filed a lawsuit, claiming that law enforcement had created the volatile conditions that led to the Kenosha shooting. The Washington Post reported that in January 2022, Kyle Rittenhouse was formally added as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Kyle Rittenhouse attempts to dismiss the lawsuit
In an interview with NPR, Kyle Rittenhouse's attorney, Shane Martin, claimed that the teen only fired at the activists in self-defense. He also denied any allegations that authorities orchestrated the series of events that led to the killings.
Martin said:
“While we respect the judge’s decision, we do not believe there is any evidence of a conspiracy and we are confident, just as a Kenosha jury found, Kyle’s actions that evening were not wrongful and were undertaken in self-defense."
As per The Associated Press, Kyle Rittenhouse was supposedly evading arrest while attempting to dismiss the lawsuit. The accused claimed that he was not formally served the lawsuit, but Judge Adelman stated that when authorities went to the teenager's home, he was not there, adding:
“Rittenhouse has been deliberately cagey about his whereabouts. Although he denies living in Florida, he does not identify the place that he deems to be his residence.”
One of the attorneys representing John and Karen Huber, the parents of Anthony Huber, commended the Judge's decision not to dismiss the case.
Attorney Anand Swaminathan said:
"(Anthony Huber's family is) one step closer to justice for their son's needless death."
He went on to counter Martin's notion that the authorities played no role in the shootings.
Swaminathan said:
"The Kenosha officials that created a powder keg situation by their actions tried to claim that they cannot be held accountable for their unconstitutional conduct; that argument was soundly rejected today."
Gaige Grosskreutz, the survivor of the shooting, filed a lawsuit against Kenosha officials on October 14, 2021.
