Gaige Grosskreutz, wounded in Tuesday night shooting in Kenosha, will need arm surgery

Gaige Grosskreutz, who was shot in the arm in Kenosha Tuesday night, should be able to keep his arm, a close family friend said.

Grosskreutz, 26, of West Allis, had surgery Wednesday and will be in the hospital for a few more days and need reconstructive surgery, said Patti Wenzel, who has known Grosskreutz since he was 17 and considers him like a son.

Wenzel, 55, also of West Allis, said Grosskreutz “lost his bicep” because of the gunshot.

Two other people — 26-year-old Anthony Huber and 36-year-old Joseph “Jojo” Rosenbaum — were fatally shot Tuesday night at a protest over a police officer shooting Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man.

Authorities have charged 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse of Antioch with first-degree intentional homicide, one count of reckless homicide, one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment in connection with the shootings. He’s expected to appear in court on Friday.

Grosskreutz, who served as a paramedic for a year in Milwaukee, had a medical bag with him at the protest Tuesday night, Wenzel said. When people came to help him after he was shot, Grosskreutz had the “wherewithal” to tell them to apply a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, Wenzel said.

Wenzel said Grosskreutz was “upset and scared” when she talked with him on the phone, but “it was just a relief, hearing his voice.”

Grosskreutz is a member of the People’s Revolution Movement of Milwaukee, a social justice group. He attends Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, where he’s studying outdoor education and is expected to graduate in December, according to the school registrar’s office. He loves kayaking and taking people on rafting trips, Wenzel said.

“He’s always been someone who’d help out his friends and give them the shirt off his back if he has one,” Wenzel said.