A Wisconsin man has reportedly admitted firing the first gunshot in the Kenosha riots, moments before Kyle Rittenhouse killed two people and wounded a third in what his attorneys are calling self-defense.
According to the New York Post, Joshua Ziminski, 35, and his wife Kelly “both admitted” that he “fired off a ’warning shot’ into the air.”
The report cited “a criminal complaint obtained by The Post.”
Mr. Rittenhouse’s attorneys, along with eyewitness accounts backed by viral videos, have said the gunshot marked a “pivotal moment” in the 17-year-old suspect’s demeanor at the riots.
After hearing the gunshot, Mr. Rittenhouse thought he had “no way out” but to defend himself as left-wing Antifa protesters were chasing him and he had “no way to know who fired that shot.”
According to the Post, reporter Richie McGinniss has said the gunshot sound was when Mr. Rittenhouse “went from running away to aiming his weapon.”
“Ziminski was investigated by the same detectives assigned to probe Rittenhouse and the now-viral videos of the killings, the complaint said,” according to the Post.
The complaint also says, according to the Post, that Mr. Ziminski can be seen in videos “holding a black handgun” at large groups and that the Ziminskis were walking toward a gas station with his “arm pointing the gun upward towards the sky.”
Detectives “observed a muzzle flash emit from the handgun, and heard a gunshot at the same time,” the court papers said.
All these claims about the Ziminskis’ movements are backed up by video clips, and, according to the complaint, the couple “both admitted” that he had fired a ’warning shot’ into the air.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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