A flower is seen near some police evidence paint around some blood where a protester was shot in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Photos / AP
The officer who shot Jacob Blake in Wisconsin was identified as a seven-year veteran of the Kenosha Police Department, the state Department of Justice said.
Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Blake, 29, while holding onto his shirt after officers first unsuccessfully used a Taser and as Blake leaned into his vehicle during an incident on Monday, the agency's news release said.
State agents later recovered a knife from the driver's side floorboard of the vehicle, the release said. A search of the vehicle located no additional weapons.
No charges were announced and the state Department of Investigation was continuing to investigate.
The shooting set off three nights of unrest in the city midway between Milwaukee and Chicago. Two people were shot and killed during protests yesterday.
A white, 17-year-old police admirer was arrested today after two people were shot to death during a third straight night of protests in Kenosha over the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake.
Kyle Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Illinois, was taken into custody in Illinois on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide. Antioch is about 25km from Kenosha.
Two people were killed and a third was wounded in an attack apparently carried out by a young white man who was caught on cellphone video opening fire in the middle of the street with a semi-automatic rifle.
"I just killed somebody," the gunman could be heard saying at one point during the rampage.
In the wake of the killings, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers authorised the sending of 500 members of the National Guard to Kenosha, doubling the number of troops. The governor's office said he is working with other states to bring in additional National Guard members and law officers. Authorities also announced a 7 pm curfew, an hour earlier than the night before.
I wrote a few weeks ago about the completely unacceptable inevitability of murder at protests by angry Americans literally looking for a shootout during protests on the streets of our country. We all saw where this ended. Some shrugged And here we arehttps://t.co/PQmR6JREvL
— Patrick Skinner (@SkinnerPm) August 27, 2020
"A senseless tragedy like this cannot happen again," the governor, a Democrat, said in a statement. "I again ask those who choose to exercise their First Amendment rights please do so peacefully and safely, as so many did last night. I also ask the individuals who are not there to exercise those rights to please stay home and let local first responders, law enforcement and members of the Wisconsin National Guard do their jobs."
In Washington, the Justice Department said it is sending in the FBI and federal marshals in response to the unrest. The White House said up to 2000 National Guard troops would be made available.
And in Orlando, the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, a team based in Wisconsin, didn't take the floor for their playoff game against the Magic. It was later announced that all three NBA playoff games scheduled for today were postponed, with players around the league choosing to boycott in their strongest statement yet against racial injustice.
Kenosha Sheriff Says Vigilante Group Asked Him to Deputize Them https://t.co/jnF5Mm1P1G pic.twitter.com/V2mLEB8wjW
— NBC Chicago (@nbcchicago) August 26, 2020
The dead were identified only as a 26-year-old Silver Lake, Wisconsin, resident and a 36-year-old from Kenosha. The wounded person, a 36-year-old from West Allis, Wisconsin, was expected to survive, police said.
"We were all chanting 'Black lives matter' at the gas station and then we heard, boom, boom, and I told my friend, `'That's not fireworks,'" 19-year-old protester Devin Scott told the Chicago Tribune.
"And then this guy with this huge gun runs by us in the middle of the street and people are yelling, 'He shot someone! He shot someone!' And everyone is trying to fight the guy, chasing him and then he started shooting again."
Scott said he cradled a lifeless victim in his arms, and a woman started performing CPR, but "I don't think he made it."
Did I just hear Gov. Kristi Noem say people in cities with protests have to “fend for themselves” on a day when a vigilante was arrested for murder?
— Bill Scher (@billscher) August 27, 2020
According to witness accounts and video footage, police apparently let the gunman walk past them and leave the scene with a rifle over his shoulder and his hands in the air as members of the crowd were yelling for him to be arrested because he had shot people.
As for how the gunman managed to leave the scene, Sheriff David Beth portrayed a chaotic, high-stress situation, with screaming, chanting, nonstop radio traffic and people running all over — conditions he said can cause "tunnel vision" among law officers.
Rittenhouse was assigned a public defender in Illinois for a hearing on Saturday on his transfer to Wisconsin. The public defender's office had no comment. Under Wisconsin law, anyone 17 or older is treated as an adult in the criminal justice system.
Much of Rittenhouse's Facebook page is devoted to praising law enforcement, with references to Blue Lives Matter, a movement that supports police. He also can be seen holding an assault rifle.
The Milwaukee Bucks statement: pic.twitter.com/F7XOPs4NqE
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) August 26, 2020
Other photographs include those of badges of various law enforcement agencies, including the Chicago Police Department. All of the badges have a black line across them — something police officers typically do with black tape when an officer is killed in the line of duty.
In a photograph posted by his mother, he is wearing what appears to be a blue law enforcement uniform as well as the kind of brimmed hat that state troopers wear.
The sheriff told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that militia members or armed vigilantes had been patrolling Kenosha's streets in recent nights, but he did not know if the gunman was among them.
However, video taken before the shooting shows police tossing bottled water from an armoured vehicle to what appear to be armed civilians walking the streets. And one of them appears to be the gunman.
As curfew struck in Kenosha tonight, law enforcement showed up, hit a reporter’s car, created a bunch of conflict with protesters who had previously been peaceful, and then after about 15 minutes drove away https://t.co/1RdXChTPDq
— Wesley (@WesleyLowery) August 27, 2020
"We appreciate you being here," an officer is heard saying to the group over a loudspeaker.
Before the shooting, the conservative website the Daily Caller conducted a video interview with the suspected gunman in front of a boarded-up business.
"So people are getting injured, and our job is to protect this business," the young man said. "And part of my job is to also help people. If there is somebody hurt, I'm running into harm's way. That's why I have my rifle - because I can protect myself, obviously. But I also have my med kit."
Sam Dirks, 22, from Milwaukee, said he had seen the gunman earlier in the evening, and he was yelling at some of the protesters. "He was definitely very agitated. He was pacing around, just pointing his gun in general. Not necessarily at anyone specifically," Dirks said.
Wisconsin Lieutenant-Governor Mandela Barnes, who is black, said in an interview with the news programme Democracy Now that the shootings were not surprising and that white militias have been ignored for too long.
Joe Biden, six hours ago: “Burning down communities is not protest, it's needless violence. Violence that endangers lives, violence that guts businesses and shutters businesses that serve the community. That's wrong." https://t.co/X1gbG0IvJT
— Matt Viser (@mviser) August 27, 2020
"How many times across this country do you see armed gunmen, protesting, walking into state Capitols, and everybody just thinks it's okay?" Barnes said. "People treat that like it's some kind of normal activity that people are walking around with assault rifles."
In Wisconsin, it is legal for people 18 and over to openly carry a gun, with no license required.
Blake, 29, was shot, apparently in the back, as he leaned into his car, three of his children seated inside. Kenosha police have said little about what happened other than that they were responding to a domestic dispute. They have not said whether Blake was armed, and they have not disclosed the race of the three officers on the scene.
Yesterday, Ben Crump, the lawyer for Blake's family, said it would "take a miracle" for Blake to walk again. He called for the officer who opened fire to be arrested and for the others involved to lose their jobs.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden posted a video saying he had spoken with Blake's parents and other family members.
"What I saw on that video makes me sick," Biden said. "Once again, a Black man, Jacob Blake, has been shot by the police in broad daylight, with the whole world watching."
- AP
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