Kenosha police on Wednesday arrested nine people traveling in cars with license plates outside the state on suspicion of criminal behavior amid the civil unrest in the city.
Officials said they received a tip about the cars. When officers found them – a bread truck, black school bus and minibus – they followed the residents, a press release said.
The department did not specify from which states the badges were. While under police surveillance, the group stopped at a gas station and tried to refill multiple fuel cans, the statement said.
KENOSHA GEWEL: 17TH, 17, ARREST IN DEADLY SHOOTING IN THE MIDDLE OF JACOB BLAKE UNREST, ILLINOIS POLICE
“Suspecting that the occupants of these cars were preparing for criminal activities in connection with the civil unrest, officials tried to contact and investigate,” police said.
The people in the van and school bus were arrested. The minivan drove away but was stopped shortly afterwards, police said. Officers forced her into the car and arrested those inside, police said.
Inside the vehicles, officials found fireworks, helmets, gas masks, protective vests and suspected controlled substances. The nine people were arrested on suspicion of misconduct.
Calls to the Fox News Police Department were not returned.
Like protests in other cities, Kenosha officials suspect that some are engaged in looting and other criminal activities are not local. The unrest began Sunday after Kenosha Rusten Police Officer Sheske shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back hours ago.
A Protestant lit a cigarette on a garbage truck that was set on fire during protests in late August 24, in Kenosha, Wis., Caused by the shooting of Jacob Blake by a Kenosha police officer a day earlier. (AP Photo / Morry Gash)
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“A lot of me think a lot of our problems start when different people with different agendas come here to Kenosha,” Sheros of Kenosha County, David Beth, said Thursday.
Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, came from Illinois armed with a gun and shot dead two people during protests, authorities said. He is accused of premeditated first-degree murder and is awaiting extradition from Illinois, where he was arrested, to Wisconsin.
