This article makes me angry! ![Pissed :mad3: :mad3:](https://data.irate4x4.com/assets/smilies/pissed.gif)
He was shot in Kenosha, then received threats – a frightening pattern after high-profile incidents
Gina Barton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Tue, September 22, 2020, 3:45 PM CDT·13 mins read
MILWAUKEE – Gaige Grosskreutz wasn’t even out of the hospital when his phone started blowing up. Shot point blank in the arm with an AR-15, he was the only person to survive a triple shooting at a protest condemning the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha police in Wisconsin.
Weeks later, the messages haven't stopped. Although some are encouraging, most are ugly, even threatening. In some corners of the internet, Grosskreutz, 26, has become the target of angry white supremacists who say he and others who support Black Lives Matter should be stopped by any means necessary – including homicide.
His family and friends – people who didn't protest in Kenosha – got frightening messages, too. Strangers showed up at their homes to find out "what really happened" the night Grosskreutz was shot.
“And that’s the thing that affects me, seeing the people that I care about be upset for me, scared for me," Grosskreutz said. "I just don’t understand the need to target people who weren’t even there.”
Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, who was shot in the arm during protests in Kenosha, Wis., marches through the streets of Milwaukee on Sept. 5.More
Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, who considered himself militia, was charged with five felonies in the shooting that wounded Grosskeutz and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber.
Huber's girlfriend, Hannah Gittings, also has received online threats, according to her friend Danielle Rasmussen, who sponsored an online fundraiser for her. On the fundraising site, people donated $5 to gain access and leave a nasty message, then got the money refunded, she said. They posted laughing emojis in reaction to posts about Huber's death and sent mocking texts to Rasmussen's husband.
"They're doing that instead of being part of the solution," she said. "Holding people accountable and doing the right thing, sometimes you have to have tough skin."
Along with shining the spotlight on Wisconsin, a crucial state in the presidential election, the shootings laid bare the extent of online harassment and its effects. It’s a problem that makes victims of violence unwitting pawns in ideological arguments, forcing them to delete their social media accounts, change their phone numbers or even move. It’s almost impossible to stop, experts say, because of a combination of ineffective criminal laws, ignorant police agencies and an unregulated internet.
Over the past decade, incidents of police violence, mass shootings and high-profile crimes have been followed by online attacks – not just on survivors but their families, their attorneys and the journalists who cover their stories.
“It’s such a challenging time that we’re living though,” said Jessie Daniels, a sociology professor at Hunter College in New York. “On the one hand, people are using social media to galvanize people against white supremacists, in support of Black Lives Matter and to point out the brutality of police killings. At the same time, those very tools people are using for social justice can be turned on them in very pernicious ways.”
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Kyle shoud have aimed to the right more....![Shaking :shaking: :shaking:](https://data.irate4x4.com/assets/smilies/shaking.gif)
![Pissed :mad3: :mad3:](https://data.irate4x4.com/assets/smilies/pissed.gif)
He was shot in Kenosha, then received threats – a frightening pattern after high-profile incidents
Gina Barton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Tue, September 22, 2020, 3:45 PM CDT·13 mins read
MILWAUKEE – Gaige Grosskreutz wasn’t even out of the hospital when his phone started blowing up. Shot point blank in the arm with an AR-15, he was the only person to survive a triple shooting at a protest condemning the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha police in Wisconsin.
Weeks later, the messages haven't stopped. Although some are encouraging, most are ugly, even threatening. In some corners of the internet, Grosskreutz, 26, has become the target of angry white supremacists who say he and others who support Black Lives Matter should be stopped by any means necessary – including homicide.
His family and friends – people who didn't protest in Kenosha – got frightening messages, too. Strangers showed up at their homes to find out "what really happened" the night Grosskreutz was shot.
“And that’s the thing that affects me, seeing the people that I care about be upset for me, scared for me," Grosskreutz said. "I just don’t understand the need to target people who weren’t even there.”
Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, who considered himself militia, was charged with five felonies in the shooting that wounded Grosskeutz and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber.
Huber's girlfriend, Hannah Gittings, also has received online threats, according to her friend Danielle Rasmussen, who sponsored an online fundraiser for her. On the fundraising site, people donated $5 to gain access and leave a nasty message, then got the money refunded, she said. They posted laughing emojis in reaction to posts about Huber's death and sent mocking texts to Rasmussen's husband.
"They're doing that instead of being part of the solution," she said. "Holding people accountable and doing the right thing, sometimes you have to have tough skin."
Along with shining the spotlight on Wisconsin, a crucial state in the presidential election, the shootings laid bare the extent of online harassment and its effects. It’s a problem that makes victims of violence unwitting pawns in ideological arguments, forcing them to delete their social media accounts, change their phone numbers or even move. It’s almost impossible to stop, experts say, because of a combination of ineffective criminal laws, ignorant police agencies and an unregulated internet.
Over the past decade, incidents of police violence, mass shootings and high-profile crimes have been followed by online attacks – not just on survivors but their families, their attorneys and the journalists who cover their stories.
“It’s such a challenging time that we’re living though,” said Jessie Daniels, a sociology professor at Hunter College in New York. “On the one hand, people are using social media to galvanize people against white supremacists, in support of Black Lives Matter and to point out the brutality of police killings. At the same time, those very tools people are using for social justice can be turned on them in very pernicious ways.”
![Flipoff :flipoff: :flipoff:](https://data.irate4x4.com/assets/smilies/flipoff.gif)
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Kyle shoud have aimed to the right more....
![Shaking :shaking: :shaking:](https://data.irate4x4.com/assets/smilies/shaking.gif)