With the jury in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial set to begin deliberating next week, it’s important to look back at what happened to another man who was ruthlessly assaulted by a mob in the same city during that series of riots.
Robert Cobb, 71, was minding his own business when civil unrest enveloped the area near his home in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Kenosha News reported Cobb did what he could to save the 100-year-old Danish Brotherhood Lodge after it was sacked by rioters.
Aug. 24, the night before Rittenhouse had run-ins with Anthony Huber, Joseph Rosenbaum and Gaige Grosskreutz, Cobb had attempted to protect the historic building with a fire extinguisher.
At one point, he began spraying rioters in the face with the fire extinguisher, as he would later explain, so that they might take off their masks and be filmed. He hoped that might identify them. He was hit in the head with concrete, suffered a broken jaw and needed stitches on his head.
WARNING: the following video is graphic and contains language which might offend some viewers.
Looters assault an older business owner trying to defend his business in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 24, 2020. pic.twitter.com/LdlLnOpvfJ
— After Action Report (@after_theaction) August 25, 2020
Cobb’s story is one that we saw play out throughout the summer of 2020 in cities from Dallas to Portland. Good samaritans who wanted to protect their community were overwhelmed by mobs and attacked.
Rittenhouse easily could have suffered the same fate — or much worse. He could have been killed during either of his two deadly interactions the following night. One could argue that rioters were incensed by the teen’s rifle, but seeing another person in possession of a rifle is not a justification to attack or kill them.
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