The officers were placed on administrative leave, standard practice in a shooting by police while the state Justice Department investigates.
The shooting happened at about 5pm and was taken prisoner from across the street on mobile video posted online.
In the footage, Blake was driving from the sidewalk around the front of his SUV to his driver’s side door, when officers followed him with their guns pointed and shouted at him. As Blake opens the door and heads for the SUV, an officer grabs his shirt from behind and opens fire while Blake turns his back.
Seven shots can be heard, though it is not clear how many hit Blake or how many of the officers fired. In the shooting, a Black woman can be seen crying in the street and jumping up and down.
“Although we do not yet have all the details,” the governor said in a statement, “what we are sure of is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or wounded or mercifully killed at the hands of persons. enforce the law in our state as our country. “
Evers stated that he intends to take further action on the shooting.
“I have been saying all along that while we need to offer our empathy, just as important is our action,” the governor said. “In the coming days, we will demand just that of elected officials in our state who have not recognized racism in our state and our country for too long.”
Pete Deates, president of the Kenya Police Association, called Evers’ statement “completely irresponsible.”
“As always, the currently circulating video does not capture all the intricacies of a highly dynamic incident,” Deates said in a statement. “We ask you to refrain from giving judgment until all the facts have been known and released.”
Online court records indicate that Kenosha County prosecutors accused Blake on July 6 of third-degree sexual assault, assault and harassment related to domestic abuse. The next day, an arrest warrant was issued for Blake. The records do not contain any further details and do not provide an attorney for Blake.
In the unrest that followed Sunday night, posts on social media showed neighbors gathering in the surrounding streets and shouting at police. Some could hear singing, “No justice, no peace!” Others appeared to throw objects at officers and damaged police cars.
Officers fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
In a scene that reflected the widespread protests over the police game of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black people, marchers marched on the Kenosha County Public Safety Building, which houses the police and sheriff’s departments. Authorities blocked the building most of the time, which was closed Monday due to damage, authorities said.
Laquisha Booker, who is Blake’s partner, told NBC’s Milwaukee branch, WTMJ-TV, that she and Blake’s three children were sitting in the back seats of the SUV when police shot him.
‘That man literally grabbed him by his shirt and looked the other way and just shot him. Crying with the kids in the back. Writing, ‘said Booker.
Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, who represented Floyd’s and Taylor’s families and said he was cared for by Blake’s family, said Blake was “just trying to do the right thing by intervening in a domestic incident.” Police did not immediately return messages looking for details about the dispute.
Crump called the actions of police officers “irresponsible, reckless and inhumane.”
“We all saw the horrific video of Jacob Blake being shot in the back several times by Kenosha police,” Crump said in a statement. “Even worse, his three sons witnessed her father die after he was hit by bullets. … It’s a miracle he’s still alive.”
Leader Jim Steineke, alderman of the Republican Assembly, warned the public and elected officials against ‘racing for judgment’, given how little details were known.
“The frustration and anger that many in our communities feel must be filled with empathy, but can no longer be fueled by the statements or actions of politicians that can ignite flames of violence,” tweeted Steineke, who knows is and lives about 140 miles north of Kenosha in Appleton.
For more than 100 years, Kenosha was a center for automobile manufacturing, but it has now been largely transformed into a bedroom community for both Milwaukee and Chicago.
