Two Kenosha police fired tasers in an attempt to stop Jacob Blake before one of the officers shot him seven times in the back with a rifle, the Wisconsin Department of Justice said on Friday. The taser’s deployment “was unsuccessful in stopping Mr. Blake,” according to a press release.
Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot when he opened the door of his SUV, in which three of his children were sitting. Agents later recovered a knife from the floor on the side of the driver of the car, the department said. Authorities did not say Blake threatened anyone with a knife.
The department had previously identified Rusten Sheskey as the Kenosha officer who shot Blake in the back with a gun. On Friday, the two other officers on the scene were identified: Vincent Arenas and Brittany Meronek.
The department said both Sheskey and Arenas deployed tasers in failed attempts to stop Blake. Officer Meronek was on the scene but did not deploy a weapon.
Kenisha Police Bureau / Facebook
Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down and is recovering at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee. His family says he was handcuffed to his hospital bed.
Sheskey has not been charged; the shooting is being investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and other agencies.
Arenas has been with the Kenosha Police Department since February 2019, and previously with the United States Police Department Capitol, the release said. Meronek joined the Kenisha Police Department in January of this year.
Blake’s shooting on Sunday afternoon also sparked several nights of protests sports boycotts.
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