A man is in serious condition and a community demanding answers after a police shooting. It happened Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin as officers responded to a domestic violence call. According to the Kenosha News:
At least a half dozen witnesses said that the man had tried to break up a fight between the two women outside a home at 2805 40th St. and that police had attempted to use a Taser on the man prior to the shooting. Then, they heard at least seven gunshots ring out.
A video shows the man trying to enter his car when police open fire on him. The shooting victim, Jacob Blake, is in the hospital in serious condition.
https://twitter.com/AttorneyCrump/status/1297721479711334401
The family has hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump to represent them. Crump says:
“Blake was helping to deescalate a domestic incident when police drew their weapons and tasered him. As he was walking away to check on his children, police fired their weapons several times into his back at point blank range. Blake’s three sons were only a few feet away and witnessed police shoot their father.”
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.
— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) August 24, 2020
In a statement to News and Guts, Jeffery Robinson, director of the ACLU’s Trone Center for Justice and Equality said:
“In yet another vicious act of police violence caught on camera, the Kenosha Police Department attempted to murder a Black man as he walked away from them by shooting him in the back, in front of his three children and his entire community. With each of the seven shots fired, police made their intent clear — they believed they had the right to kill an unarmed Black man for the crime of walking away from them… The Kenosha Police statement after the shooting said that they provided ‘immediate aid’ after committing this act of violence. But rendering first aid is a basic obligation. Officers shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back; it’s offensive to act as if not letting him bleed out afterward was an act of grace rather than a mandatory response to their own violence.”
The NBC in Milwaukee reports on the protests that erupted after the shooting:
Crowds gathered at the scene before marching to the Kenosha Police Department.
Fires were set to dumpsters meant to block off roads in the area. A nearby car lot was set on fire as well.
The Kenosha County Courthouse and Administration Building were both closed Monday due to overnight damage from the unrest.
Watch more from CBS above.