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Two people were fatally shot and at least one other was injured in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, as riots and civil unrest continued for a third night over the Sunday police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man who has been since been left paralyzed and “fighting for his life.”
At least two people were killed amid rioting, looting, and arson incidents in the lakefront town as several demonstrations devolved into unrest Wednesday morning, law enforcement officials said.
Kenosha Police said in a statement that at about 11:45 p.m. on Tuesday they responded to “reports of shots being fired and multiple gunshot victims,” which resulted in “two fatalities and a third gunshot victim was transported to a hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries.”
— Kenosha Police Dept. (@KenoshaPolice) August 26, 2020
The police department added that the shooting investigation is active and ongoing, and they have yet to determine all the names, ages, and cities of residence of the victims.
Police in riot gear clashed with groups of 300 to 400 demonstrators near a courthouse in downtown Kenosha. Law enforcement officials fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and flash-bang rounds as they skirmished after dark with rioters defying a dawn-to-dusk curfew outside the courthouse and an adjacent park in the county.
‼️STAY OFF THE STREETS‼️
STAY HOME. CURFEW IN EFFECT.
— Kenosha Police Dept. (@KenoshaPolice) August 26, 2020
Kenosha Police said they are searching for a man armed with a long gun in connection with the fatal shooting of one of the victims who was shot in the head just before midnight. County Sheriff David Beth said another suffered from gun shot wounds to the chest, noting that it is not yet clear where the third person was shot.
Beth said he is confident county police will soon be able to bring a suspect into custody based on video footage reviewed by police so far.
“I feel very confident we’ll have him in a very short time,” Beth said, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Since the shooting of 29-year-old Blake by police Sunday, the National Guard has been deployed to the county, with Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers promising the deployment of more troops.
The unrest was triggered after a viral video appeared to show Blake being shot at close range. Blake fought with police officers on the side of a residential street in Kenosha over the weekend before walking away from officers who had their guns drawn.
When he opened the driver’s side door of a car and reached inside, officers fired multiple times.
A criminal complaint obtained by The Epoch Times showed Blake was charged last month for trespassing, third-degree sexual assault, and disorderly conduct.
His family’s attorney said Tuesday that it would “take a miracle” for him to walk again while calling for the officers who opened fire to be arrested and others involved to lose their jobs.
Earlier Tuesday, Blake’s father spoke alongside other family members and lawyers, telling reporters that police shot his son “seven times, seven times, like he didn’t matter.”
“But my son matters. He’s a human being and he matters,” said Blake’s father, who is also named Jacob Blake.
“It’s going to take a miracle for Jacob Blake Jr. to ever walk again,” attorney Benjamin 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.
The Epoch Times contacted the Kenosha Police Department, but didn’t immediately hear back.
News of the shootings came on the heels of comments from first lady Melania Trump, who, during the second night of the 2020 Republican National Convention, called for racial unity.
“Stop the violence and looting,” she said in an impassioned speech from the White House Tuesday.
In an address from the newly renovated White House Rose Garden, the first lady urged Americans to stop making race-based assumptions and to instead “come together in a civil manner so we can work and live up to our standard American ideals.”
“I also ask people to stop the violence and looting being done in the name of justice, and never make assumptions based on the color of a person’s skin,” she said.
Jack Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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