The Wisconsin Attorney General says Jacob Blake – the Black man shot seven times in the back by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday – was near a knife when the shooting took place, but he would not say whether Blake did it. knife dry when he was shot.
The Kenosha police officer who opened fire, identified as Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year veteran, held the shirt of Blake, 29, and opened fire as he tried to get into a car, Attorney General said. Josh Kaul at a news conference Wednesday. “Officer Sheskey shot the weapon in Mr. Blake’s back,” he said.
Officers tried to arrest Blake and had unsuccessfully deployed a Taser when he opened the side door of the driver of a car and “leaned forward,” Kaul said.
Investigators found the knife in the footwell of the car, and Blake confirmed to investigators that he was in possession of a knife, Kaul said.
Sheskey and other officers involved in the incident are on administrative leave as the investigation by local, state and federal officials – including the FBI – continues, Kaul said.
Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley said he has asked the U.S. Attorney’s office, too.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed on Wednesday that it had opened a civil investigation into the shooting.
Download the NBC News app for news and alerts
Blake “helped de-escalate a domestic incident” when confronted by officers, a lawyer for his family, Benjamin Crump, said Tuesday.
Kaul said police had responded to an incident in which a man was in a woman’s residence and should not have been there. He did not say whether that man was Blake.
Blake was paralyzed from the waist down in a hospital in Milwaukee, family counselor Patrick Salvi said Tuesday.
Kenosha police did not give their side of the story about exactly what led to the shooting, and only said they responded to a domestic incident on Sunday at 5:11 p.m.
A man who recorded the shooting on video, Raysean White, 22, said he heard police tell Blake “the knife fell.” White said he did not see Blake with a knife, and it is not clear if he had one. Kaul did not say Wednesday whether Blake actually carried a knife.
The attack sparked protests this week in Kenosha and beyond, including in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and San Diego.
During a third night of demonstrations in Kenosha on Tuesday, two people were shot dead and a third person was injured. Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, was in custody just across the border in Illinois and was facing charges of murder in Wisconsin.
Blake’s father, also known as Jacob Blake, on Tuesday expressed doubts that an honest investigation into his son’s shooting was possible.
“I do not trust anyone who is white who is investigating a black young man who was shot seven times in the back,” he said.
