A 17-year-old is under arrest in connection with a deadly shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Two people are dead and a third injured after a night of violent protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Police say a young white man opened fire on a crowd of protestors with a long gun. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on this information from Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth:
Beth said people who fashion themselves as belonging to a militia have been patrolling Kenosha’s streets in recent nights, but he did not know if the shooter was involved with such a group.
“They’re a militia,” Beth said. “They’re like a vigilante group.”
On Tuesday, a group calling itself the Kenosha Guard, asked members and followers on Facebook to come downtown and be prepared to defend the city.
One post read: “Any patriots willing to take up arms and defend out (sic) City tonight from the evil thugs? Nondoubt (sic) they are currently planning on the next part of the City to burn tonight!”
The New York Times writes that the shooting happened outside a gas station:
There, a group of men with guns stood outside, promising to protect the property and verbally sparring with the arriving protesters. As the night stretched on, the gas station became a tense gathering spot, with bystanders watching from parked cars and people milling around in the street, arguing and occasionally shoving each other… After midnight, shots were fired outside the gas station.
The incident was caught on camera in multiple videos. Warning: The video is graphic.
A member of the white supremacist #BoogalooBoys shot multiple protesters in #Kenosha. Although he had an AR15 he was not confronted by police or SWAT but ignored & allowed to walk out of the area. @KenoshaPolice shoot unarmed Black men but see armed white men as allies. pic.twitter.com/NBNxw9aRNY
— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) August 26, 2020
Two people are dead and one is injured after a shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where protests are ongoing over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. https://t.co/x2U8BUYZB8 pic.twitter.com/nzdrseNSkX
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) August 26, 2020
The Milwaukee Sentinel Journal says “Court records show Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, of Antioch, Ill., has been charged there as a fugitive from justice. That document, reviewed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, said he faces a first-degree intentional homicide charge in Kenosha County.” The Daily Beast reports:
Rittenhouse’s Facebook page became unavailable shortly before the announcement of his arrest, but it included numerous photos with Blue Lives Matter-style pro-police slogans and imagery, as well as of an Armalite rifle similar to the one he appears to have been photographed carrying in Kenosha.
Wednesday afternoon the police chief addressed the arrest, but seemed to place some blame on people being out during curfew, “had persons not been out in violation of that, perhaps the situation that unfolded would not have had happened.”
Kenosha Police Chief Miskinis responds to the murder of two protestors by saying it wouldn't have happened if people weren't out after curfew: "I'm not gonna make a great deal of it, BUT …" pic.twitter.com/GBRo8I5Zka
— The Recount (@therecount) August 26, 2020
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