A black man identified as Jacob Blake was shot several times in the back at close range in Kenosha, Wisconsin. A video of the shooting has gone viral and has added more civil unrest as President* Trump accepts his nomination on television from the Republican National Convention.
Officers were responding to a domestic situation at approximately 5pm on Sunday, where people at the scene later said Blake was trying to break up a fight between two women. Armed officers were seen trailing Blake as he headed toward a vehicle. Officers shot seven times when Blake opened the car door.
The man’s three young children were inside the car when their father was shot in the back. He was taken to a Milwaukee hospital in critical condition.
Protesters gathered outside the Kenosha County Public Safety Building, and today the county courthouse and administration building are closed due to damage sustained overnight. Numerous dump trucks and garbage trucks were set ablaze, as well as used cars on a dealership lot.
Both U.S. Senators from Wisconsin weighed in. Ron Johnson, Republican, urged protests to be peaceful and supports an investigation into the shooting. Tammy Baldwin, Democrat, said, “As we pray for Jacob Blake to live, let peaceful protests lead the way to the answers we seek, and justice.”
Joe Biden submitted a statement (see full statement here).
Equal justice has not been real for Black Americans and so many others. We are at an inflection point. We must dismantle systemic racism. It is the urgent task before us. We must fight to honor the ideals laid in the original American promise, which we are yet to attain: That all men and women are created equal, but more importantly that they must be treated equally.