Officers on the scene where Jacob Blake was shot. Screen grab from youtube.
Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Black man shot at least seven times by Kenosha Police Department (KPD) officers in Wisconsin Sunday, is in stable condition but may be paralyzed from the waist down, Blake’s father told the Chicago Sun-Times.
A Wisconsin Department of Justice press release said the KPD officers were responding to a “domestic incident” when the encounter with Blake occurred. KPD said, “Law enforcement immediately provided medical aid” to Blake, and Flight for Life transported him to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.
Since the Sunday shooting, protests and riots erupted in Kenosha, and the incident fueled protests in other areas, including Minneapolis and Los Angeles.
Here’s what we know so far:
- Two videos of the incident have surfaced. One shows a side angle and what appears to be one of the Kenosha officers tasing Blake on the passenger side of the vehicle without success; Blake gets back up and continues to walk away from the officers.
- The second video shows another angle from the driver’s side of the vehicle from an elevated position showing Blake ignoring officers’ commands as he opens the vehicle’s front driver’s-side door and reaches inside while one of the officers grabs Blake’s shirt.
- The officer holding Blake’s shirt appears to fire seven rounds from his service pistol at point blank range into Blake’s back as he reaches into his car.
- The video shows the officers administering aid to Blake as other officers secure the scene.
Here's a video of the shooting that happened in Kenosha, Wisconsin. This video shows the shooting of Jacob Blake from a different vantage point. pic.twitter.com/d2CYIis6Zm
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) August 24, 2020
- In a press conference, Attorney Ben Crump confirmed that Blake’s three sons were in the car at the time of the shooting.
- Jacob Blake had an active felony warrant for his arrest at the time of the shooting.
- The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the incident and will turn over investigative reports to a prosecutor following a complete and thorough investigation.
- The involved officers have been placed on administrative leave.
- Investigators are asking anyone with information regarding this incident to contact law enforcement.
The Kenosha Police Department did not respond to requests for further information at the time of publication.
Joshua Skovlund is a former staff writer for Coffee or Die. He covered the 75th anniversary of D-Day in France, multinational military exercises in Germany, and civil unrest during the 2020 riots in Minneapolis. Born and raised in small-town South Dakota, he grew up playing football and soccer before serving as a forward observer in the US Army. After leaving the service, he worked as a personal trainer while earning his paramedic license. After five years as in paramedicine, he transitioned to a career in multimedia journalism. Joshua is married with two children.
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