Kenosha protests continue for 3rd night after Jacob Blake shooting
KENOSHA, Wis. - Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters during a third night of unrest in this southeastern Wisconsin city following the shooting of a Black man whose attorney said he was paralyzed after being shot multiple times by police.
A group of protesters walked toward a fence that was put in place Tuesday around the courthouse and started shaking it. Police behind it moved toward protesters as some threw water bottles and fireworks over the fence. Armored vehicles then rolled in and tear gas was fired into the crowd.
When police ordered protesters to disperse, the crowd responded by chanting “Black lives matter.” Police then fired rubber bullets.
Jacob Blake, the man shot by police responding to a domestic disturbance on Sunday, is paralyzed, and it will “take a miracle” for him to walk again, his family's attorney said Tuesday, while calling for the officer who opened fire to be arrested and others involved to lose their jobs.
The shooting of Blake on Sunday in Kenosha — apparently in the back while three of his children looked on — was captured on cellphone video and ignited new protests over racial injustice in several cities, some of which have devolved into unrest. It came just three months after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police touched off a wider reckoning on race.
“They shot my son seven times, seven times, like he didn’t matter,” said Blake’s father, who is also named Jacob Blake and who spoke to reporters alongside other family members and lawyers. “But my son matters. He’s a human being and he matters.”
The 29-year-old was in surgery, said attorney Ben Crump, adding that the bullets severed Blake’s spinal cord and shattered his vertebrae. Another attorney said there was also severe damage to organs.
“It’s going to take a miracle for Jacob Blake Jr. to ever walk again,” Crump said.
The legal team plans to file a civil lawsuit against the police department over the shooting. Police have said little about what happened, other than that they were responding to a domestic dispute. The officers involved have not been named. The Wisconsin Department of Justice is investigating.
After a night during which protests devolved into unrest, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers had called for calm Tuesday, while also declaring a state of emergency under which he doubled the National Guard deployment in Kenosha from 125 to 250. The night before crowds destroyed dozens of buildings and set more than 30 fires in the city's downtown.
“We cannot allow the cycle of systemic racism and injustice to continue,” said Evers, who is facing mounting pressure from Republicans over his handling of the unrest. “We also cannot continue going down this path of damage and destruction.”
Blake’s mother, Julia Jackson, said the damage in Kenosha does not reflect what her family wants and that, if her son could see it, he would be “very unpleased.”
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