Jacob Blake was shot by Wisconsin police responding to a domestic incident, according to the Kenosha Police Department. USA TODAY
Protests erupted overnight in Wisconsin after video appeared to show police officers firing several shots at close range into a Black man’s back Sunday night.
The state Department of Justice is investigating after officers from Kenosha Police Department responding to a domestic incident shortly after 5 p.m. “were involved in an officer involved shooting,” according to a news release. The man who was shot, identified by Gov. Tony Evers as Jacob Blake, was airlifted to a Milwaukee hospital in serious condition, police said.
On Twitter, Evers said he and his wife are hoping for Blake’s recovery.
“While we do not have all of the details yet, what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country,” Evers wrote on Twitter.
After invoking the names of other Black people killed by police, Evers added, “We stand against excessive use of force and immediate escalation when engaging with Black Wisconsinites.”
What does the video show?
The police department’s release offered little additional information, but graphic video circulating on social media showed a man being shot multiple times. Blake appears to be walking toward a car as he is followed by an officer who has a weapon drawn.
Blake opens the car door and reaches into the vehicle and an officer tugs on his shirt. At least seven gunshots can be heard in the video, followed by a car horn. Two officers can be seen in the video near the car; it is unclear what happened before the video was recorded.
KPD said “officers provided immediate aid” to the person who was shot. The video circulating online cuts away shortly after the shooting.
Benjamin Crump, a civil rights attorney who is representing Blake’s family and the family of George Floyd, a Black man who died at the knee of a fired Minneapolis police officer on Memorial Day, shared a video from the incident on Twitter. He said Blake was helping to de-escalate a domestic situation and his three sons were in the car.
“They saw a cop shoot their father,” Crump tweeted. “They will be traumatized forever. We cannot let officers violate their duty to PROTECT us. Our kids deserve better!!”
Protests erupt overnight
Officers deployed tear gas early Monday to disperse hundreds of people who protested after a police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin that also drew a harsh rebuke from the governor. (Aug. 24) AP Domestic
The incident almost immediately set off unrest in the city about 40 miles south of Milwaukee which continued early Monday morning.
Kenosha County declared an emergency curfew for 10:15 p.m. Sunday, saying in a news release, “The public needs to be off the streets for their safety.” The curfew was in effect until 7 a.m. Monday.
A crowd of about 100 people had reached the Kenosha County Public Safety Building by 10:15 p.m. and were chanting “no justice, no peace.” A line of police flanked the building and faced off with the crowd, moving them away from the building.
Authorities mostly blocked off the building, and some officers were positioned on the roof as protesters marched beside lines of honking cars as they made their way to the building. Outside the station, protesters clashed with officers dressed in riot gear, including plastic face masks, who occasionally used their shields and batons to push people back.
Unrest continues: Several fires burning in Kenosha after police officer shoots Black man
By late Sunday, multiple vehicles were set ablaze and windows were smashed along city thoroughfares as crowds faced off with law enforcement. Officers in riot gear stood in lines and SWAT vehicles remained on the streets to move people away from city buildings despite the declaration of an overnight curfew.
Police later set off tear gas canisters, scattering the crowd.
At 11:15 p.m., a city dump truck that had been positioned to prevent traffic from heading toward the police department was fully engulfed in fire. Some people were getting close to take pictures until someone shouted that the gas tank could blow.
By midnight, the crowd had dwindled to a few hundred people who stood in the square next to the courthouse watching city dump trucks go up in flames. A big boom sounded when one of the tires blew up, dispersing the crowd once again.
Police deployed tear gas early Monday in an effort to disperse hundreds of people who took to the streets following the incident.The Kenosha County Courthouse and Administration Building are closed to the public Monday “due to damage sustained during last night’s civil unrest,” according to Kenosha County officials.
What’s being done?
In a statement early Monday, Wisconsin DOJ said the officers involved in the shooting had been placed on administrative leave. The state’s Division of Criminal Investigation is heading up an investigation into the shooting and will seek to “provide a report of the incident to the prosecutor within 30 days,” according to the statement.
The statement provided by the state’s DOJ does not identify the officers. It also doesn’t indicate why officers confronted Blake at the scene.
“DCI is leading this investigation and is assisted by Wisconsin State Patrol and Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office,” DOJ said its statement. ” All involved law enforcement are fully cooperating with DCI during this investigation.”
Contributing: Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; The Associated Press
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