The man, Gaige Grosskreutz, a licensed paramedic from suburban Milwaukee, said he went to Kenosha in hope of treating anyone hurt during the protests on Aug. 25, 2020, over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Grosskreutz, 27, told jurors that he had his own Glock pistol in one hand and a cellphone in the other when he approached Rittenhouse, who was armed with an AR-15-style weapon.
His arms were raised shortly before Rittenhouse shot him in the right biceps. Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger asked Grosskreutz why he didn't shoot first.
“That’s not the kind of person that I am. That’s not why I was out there," Grosskreutz said. "That's not why I spent, up until that point, my time, my money, my education, providing care for people. That's not who I am. That's definitely not somebody I would want to become."
He added that he "tried to attempt a nonlethal way to end that interaction.”
Prosecutors want to show that Rittenhouse had no justification for gunning down Anthony Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and shooting Grosskreutz.
Video of the scene showed Grosskreutz just a few feet away from Huber when he was shot.